Our CEO and Head of Product Success recently travelled together to Madrid, Spain for this year's Global Water Summit (GWS) conference. Held from May 16th through 18th. The theme for the event was "Water-Positive Zero Carbon" and net-zero targets were the talk of the town.
GWS brought together ministers of governments, utility chief executives, business leaders, investors, and engineers and water technologists for two full days of roundtable discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities. With global domestic water use accounting for one to two percent of global emissions each year, the need to change how we collectively manage water supplies and wastewater is increasing urgently around the world.
Takeaways from Global Water Summit
Some of our key takeaways from the event include:
Water stress and scarcity is the main concern for planning and strategy at water utilities
Around 80% of a facility’s carbon footprint is created during its construction
Cost of water plays a role in prioritizing goals at utilities; some focus on upgrades to infrastructure while others focus on leak detection to prevent water loss, which is becoming a larger problem
Desalination is reaching peak growth in the next year, with more plants working to reduce electricity consumption
A shift is starting to occur, with the market moving beyond reverse osmosis technology due to high energy use
Digital platforms are changing the market quickly, with the past two years of operating through a global pandemic accelerating adoption of technologies that enable remote monitoring and control
Digital twin technology using artificial intelligence is quickly becoming the gold standard at many facilities
Digital transformation of water management will be the driver to closing environmental gaps
Climate change is driving investments in water conservation, sustainability, and resilience as utilities around the world contend with stricter regulations
Investments in digital water solutions are projected to see a 15% growth in 2022 (around $USD25 billion in global digital water spending)
We are so encouraged by the fact that events like GWS are facilitating these critical conversations in person once again by bringing together so many of the stakeholders involved.
Pani voted in the Top 5 “Technologies for Net Zero”
While at GWS, our CEO also participated in the “30 Technologies for Net Zero” session, hosted by Isle Utilities. This 75-minute session brought together 30 technologies which are “best placed to make a difference” in the race to zero carbon. Each company had 30 seconds to answer a question about their technology.
Attendees of the session included large utilities, government representatives, industry leaders, and investors. The audience was asked to vote for their favourite technologies at the end of the session and we’re honoured to have been voted in the top five!
Building on the momentum
This year’s Global Water Summit made it clear that the water space is taking on the challenge of zero carbon emissions and we look forward to Pani being a part of the solution. GWS reaffirmed the importance of using digital technology like ours to reduce operational risks and costs at water treatment facilities around the world, regardless of where they are on their digital journey.
With all of the learnings we’ve soaked up from the conference, we’ll continue to improve Pani’s software-as-a-service platform to help operational and managing teams save time and money, while also reducing energy and chemical consumption to lower a plant’s impact on the environment and ensure future water security.
Contact our team to learn more about how Pani can work for industrial, municipal, and desalination plants, regardless of where they are on their digital journey, or get started today.
