Águas do Porto's Real-Time Water System Monitoring Through Digital Twin Technology

Águas do Porto (AdP), a major water company in Portugal, is responsible for managing the entire urban water cycle of the city of Porto. This includes water supply, wastewater drainage and treatment, stormwater drainage, surface waters, and coastal water quality. The company serves approximately 500,000 people, delivering an average of 49,450 cubic meters of water daily and collecting the same amount for treatment. The system includes extensive kilometers of wastewater sewers, stormwater drainage pipes, streams, and ocean coast. The hydraulic infrastructure and water resources in Porto had become dense and complex due to a growing number of tourists, with over 1.5 million people visiting Porto in 2017 alone. To improve water system management and system resilience, AdP needed to create models for various systems that incorporate weather forecasts, water supply, sewer flow, and storm drainage rates. These models would consume large amounts of data from sensors throughout the system, including sensors measuring customer water use and billing. AdP gathered all water system data within dozens of siloed software systems. However, finding information and gaining actionable insights became difficult as the volume of data increased. To manage the growing number of systems and data sources and provide reliable service to its customers, AdP decided that establishing an integrated management system was paramount for handling the entire urban water cycle effectively.

Águas do Porto (AdP) is a major water company in Portugal, responsible for managing the entire urban water cycle of the city of Porto. This includes water supply, wastewater drainage and treatment, stormwater drainage, surface waters, and coastal water quality. AdP serves approximately 500,000 people, delivering an average of 49,450 cubic meters of water daily and collecting the same amount for treatment. The system includes 558 kilometers of wastewater sewers, 660 kilometers of stormwater drainage pipes, 66 kilometers of streams, and 3.4 kilometers of ocean coast, half of which are used as beaches. The company is one of the largest water companies in Portugal with more than 157,000 customers. The hydraulic infrastructure and water resources in Porto had become dense and complex, due in part to a growing number of tourists, with over 1.5 million people visiting Porto in 2017 alone.