2030: The Water Industry You've Never Seen Before

A tech guy's predictions on water over the next ten years.

The end of a radical decade in digital transformation is nearly complete. Rapid advances in 'buzzword' technology like AI, ML, IoT, & cloud computing coupled with related workflows and systems like design thinking, mobile first, customer journeys, e-commerce, and the SaaS-ification of everything have changed how nearly every major global industry does business.

Water, although lagging by most tech standards, is no exception. There's an endless supply of opportunities to attend conferences, workshops, and forums focused on the digital transformation of water - and if you've been around long enough you've undoubtedly heard terms like "Digital Twin", "Smart Water", "Smart Metering", "Next-Gen SCADA"... and the list goes on.

BUT writing predictions solely on tech advances in the water sector would be boring because they a.) are inevitable and b.) don't afford the opportunity for me to be wildly incorrect... and for you to laugh at me in ten years when I'm completely wrong.

Instead, I've focused on a variety of topics in water and split the predictions up into three categories of 'likelihood of happening'. To make this even more fun for you I've started with the predictions that…