Smart metering and Internet of Things for efficient water management

Global water use has grown steadily in the past decade, and climate change will further worsen the levels of water stress. Another global issue lies in the ageing of water infrastructures, registering conspicuous water losses (40% in the Italian scenario). A great opportunity is represented by the exploitation of new technologies relating to IoT, namely smart meters, which can enable the prediction of water consumption, detect leaks, and customise the service. This paper assesses the economic and environmental impact of smart meters adoption for water consumption, by taking the Italian scenario as a reference context, through the development of an analytical model which considers the benefits and costs associated with their adoption, with the ultimate objective of evaluating the convenience of the investment. Data to feed the model was collected through secondary sources, literature reviews, and interviews with utility companies' employees. Results provide corroborating evidence of the positive impact of smart water meter adoption, both in economic and environmental terms, in particular by increasing the roll-out number, given the higher amount of data available and economies of scale to be exploited. The present study contributes to the academic literature by providing a comprehensive model that considers economic and environmental aspects of smart water adoption, which allows practitioners to have an insightful understanding of the involved variables in such investments.