Open Waters - Digital Twins With use of Open Data and Shared Design for Swedish Water Treatment Plants

Sammanfattning: Digital twins (DTs) are digital copies of a physical system that incorporates the system environment, interactions, etc. to mirror the system accurately in real time. As effective decision support systems (DSS) in complex multivariate situations, DTs could be the next step in the digitalization of water management. This study is done in cooperation with the Open Waters project group at the Swedish environmental research institute (IVL). The aim of the project group is to investigate the possibility to realize DTs with the use of open data (OD), and shared design (SD), in Swedish water management while also promoting ecosystems for innovation in virtual environments. This study will aid the project group by bridging the gap between project stakeholders and water managers. A DSS developed by IVL for automatic dosage of coagulants in water treatment which is based on the same industry 4.0 technology as DTs will be evaluated as a possible starting point for DTs, OD, and SD. In depth interviews were held with representatives from water management, and experts in DTs, OD, and SD. This was to identify key opportunities and threats, and to understand water managers perception and opinion of the project. This is complimented by a brief review of Swedish water management, and the international state of DTs. There were 4 main opportunities and threats. Challenges and goals are very similar between different WTPs    Water managers are already collaborating to reach common goals    WTPs are unique in terms of treatment steps and composition/properties of raw water WTPs are objects of national security which raises questions regarding safety when digitalization is discussed.