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Potential of Geospatial Technologies for the Water Sector in India

Posted on July 23, 2021 by admin1  710

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Recently, a report on opportunities from the use of Geospatial Technologies in the Water Sector was released by the Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga.

About

  • This Report was prepared by the Association of Geospatial Industries – a geospatial technology industry body.
  • The report provides an overview of how each of these programmes is currently using geospatial technologies, and how to improve technology adoption in the future. 
    • Various programmes like Jal Jeevan Mission, Atal Bhujal Yojana, have been set up using these technologies.

Major Highlights from the Report

  • As a fast developing and second most populous country in the world, India is facing a severe water crisis that is becoming a critical issue. 
  • Home to about 17% of the world population, and around 20% of world’s livestock population, India has access to only about 4% of the world’s freshwater reserves.
  • Key Concerns or Indian Water Sector
    • Rain water and Glaciers: 
      • India receives 3,000 billion cubic metres of water every year through rainfall or other sources such as glaciers; of this, only 8% is collected. 
    • Ground Water: 
      • Rate of extraction of Groundwater in India is higher than Rate of filling the aquifers.
      • 89% of India’s water resources are used for agriculture, out of which 65% is withdrawn from under the ground. 
      • Industry too obtains around 80% of their water requirements from underground sources. Thus, one of India’s biggest challenges is to conserve groundwater.
    • Water Storage Capacities:
      • India also has insufficient water storage capacities. 
      • While some countries have capacities up to 5000 mt cube per person storage infrastructure, India only has about 200 mtr cube per person. 
      • This results in droughts even in years that experience good monsoons.
    • Water Quality:
      • Even the water that is available is not fit for direct consumption. Groundwater in one-third of India’s 600 districts is contaminated mainly through fluoride and arsenic. 
      • India’s economic burden through water borne diseases is approximately USD 600 million a year. 
      • Less than 50 percent of India’s population has access to safe managed drinking water, and that too is inequitable. 
    • Water Resources Management: 
      • The science in water resources management is very complex and dynamic. 
      • The implication of an applied strategy is not known in the short run. 
      • The gestation period for any quantifiable change is upwards of a decade, hence adoption of appropriate technology tools and analytics to assess the situation and simulate various possibilities is critical
      • for sustainable development in the water sector.

GeoSpatial Technologies in India

  • Geospatial Technologies are tools that enable us to present the spatial context of phenomena and provide a platform for developing an understanding of ‘what-if’ scenarios by integrating various other datasets.
  • The term ‘geospatial’ refers not to one single technology, but a sleuth of technologies that help to collect, analyse, store, manage, distribute, integrate, and present geographic information.
  • It consists of the following technologies:
    • Remote Sensing: 
      • This technology allows us to remotely capture features of Earth’s surface by using various sensors that are typically mounted on satellites or airborne vehicles. 
      • Remote Sensing sensors record earth’s reflectance in different wavelengths, and these received reflectance values are processed to create a separate image for each wavelength.
      • The reflectance value is stored for different wavelengths in different layers, which are also called bands present in that satellite image. 
      • A sensor can record several wavelengths simultaneously. In general, there are three wavelengths from visible i.e. blue wavelength, green wavelength and red wavelength, whereas infrared can be further defined as near infrared, mid infrared, far infrared and thermal infrared.
      • Multispectral satellite data for the water sector is extremely useful as it helps extract detailed information and facilitates more accurate interpretation and classified thematic maps. 
      • It helps in:
        • assessing depth, 
        • water turbidity, 
        • understanding aqua culture, 
        • assessing water levels, 
        • river movement, 
        • understanding water-related disaster scenarios, 
        • overview of population spread etc.
    • Surveying:
      • This technology is used to make relatively large-scale, accurate measurements of the Earth’s surface. 
      • Surveying has two similar but opposite functions:
        • The determination of existing relative horizontal and vertical position, such as that used for the process of mapping, and
        • The establishment of marks to control construction or to indicate land/water boundaries. 
      • Survey equipment include theodolite, total station, 3D scanners, LiDAR etc.
    • Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS):
      • Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) provides precise position or geographic location of people, equipment or things that are attached to a device that includes a GNSS chip. 
      • Data about the location is gathered from a constellation of navigation satellites that cover the entire globe. 
      • Common applications include navigation, and routing. 
      • GNSS is also used in high precision construction.
    • Geographic Information System (GIS):
      • A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a conceptualized framework that provides the ability to capture and analyse spatial and geographic data. 
      • GIS helps integrate different data layers for enabling spatial based decision making for a variety of users from local governments, transport/logistics, insurance, environment monitoring, telecommunications etc.

Geospatial Technologies in Relation to Digital Technologies

  • The fourth industrial revolution is marked by the advent of new-age technologies that are revolutionizing the way we live, work, and relate to each other. 
  • These technologies include: 
    • Artificial Intelligence: 
      • Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings.
      • AI simulates human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions.
      • GeoAI can help professionals in the water sector to automatically detect terrain features, densely distributed building footprints, extract information from scanned historical maps, cleanse data in subterranean utility networks, interpretation of utility drawings and asset recognition in images. 
      • GIS combined with AI is also useful for developing and maintaining decision-making processes like smart water grids, smart sewage systems, and smart waste management systems.
    • Big Data Analytics:
      • Geospatial data has always been characterised as big data. 
      • Geospatial data is being captured from a variety of sources, right from satellites, UAV mounted sensors, other sensors measuring and monitoring water/air quality, traffic patterns, cell phone data etc. 
      • For the water sector, big data analytics can address issues of data scarcity by consolidating data available from different sources, both traditional and unconventional. 
      • Big data analytics can transform data into usable information that can support groundwater management, especially at a local scale. 
      • Big data analytics techniques and methods provide benefits beyond traditional analytics, when dealing with large heterogeneous datasets and are particularly useful when performing data-driven modelling. 
      • For the water sector, big geospatial data analytics can help develop algorithms for predictive scenarios used for dam construction, water resource management, river linking projects etc. 
    • Internet of Things:
      • The network of physical objects embedded with sensors/software, exchanging data with other devices is called the Internet of Things. 
      • These sensors measure with high precision the state of the physical world such as temperature, humidity, radiation, electromagnetism, noise, chemicals, etc. 
      • Data collected through IoT when combined with geospatial data provides rich knowledge and analytics about the real world and helps deliver better outcomes. 
      • IoT sensors when combined with GIS technology can be an effective tool for:
        • Generating flooding models, 
        • Calculating the expected excess rainwater, 
        • Identifying groundwater potential zones in hard rock terrain, 
        • monitoring the seasonal variation of physicochemical parameters of an urban water stream, 
        • Generating high-risk flood plain maps, 
        • Delineating groundwater potential zones in hard rock terrain, 
        • assessing the spatial variation of groundwater quality 
        • Producing salinity hazard maps. 
    • Robotics:
      • Robotic mapping has significantly contributed to the field of localization and mapping, by increasingly becoming independent and automated.
      • Low-cost robots for remote surface data collection support water balance computations and hydrologic understanding where water availability data is sparse
    • Digital Twin:
      • A Digital Twin is a virtual replica of the physical world, its dynamics, and processes, which allow us to simulate real life situations and analyse its impact.
      • Digital twins are composed of three parts – 
        • the physical entities in the physical world, 
        • the virtual models in the virtual world, and 
        • the connected data that tie the two worlds.
      • Digital Twins not only integrate the digital representation of physical assets, like physical systems of pipes, pumps, valves, and tanks, but also include historical data sets such as weather records and realtime dynamic interactions, which allow them to be used for multiple analyses. 
    • 5G:
      • The 5G or fifth generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks is set to be about 100 times faster than the currently available 4G networks. 
      • 5G enabled IoT devices will provide precise location about water supply, sanitation, incidents related to leaks or emergencies on a real-time basis. 
      • As 5G will enable faster machine-to-machine communications, these incoming data from various sensors can be integrated in a GIS based control centre that will process location
      • information in real time and AI systems will analyse and trigger actions, thereby enhancing the ability of decision makers to better monitor and manage water related assets and resources.

Ongoing Water Projects in India

  • Recognising the water crisis in India, the government of India formed a single ministry i.e Ministry of Jal Shakti. 
  • Previously, water was a subject which was dealt with by almost nine Ministries.
  • Projects are: 
    • Jal Jeevan Mission
    • Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP)
    • Namami Gange
    • National River Linking Project (NRLP)
    • Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)
    • National Hydrology Programme
    • Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana (PMKSY)
    • National Aquifer Mapping and Management Programme (NAQUIM)
    • River Basin Management
    • Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY)
    • National Water Mission

Suggestions

  • Long-term Geospatial Vision: In order to derive maximum benefit from geospatial technology implementation in various programmes, user departments need to build a long-term vision of the outcomes of geospatial implementation. This will ensure a sustainable infrastructure and human resource investments, as well as better programme outcomes. 
  • Integrated geospatial platform: Even when a lot of data and technology is used by various agencies at central and state level, they are still functioning in silos. An integrated collaborative platform to connect the data and technology used by various organizations need to be developed for seamless access to information both locally and nationally and enable decision making. 
  • Data and system integration: various datasets including demography, socio-cultural, economic, and other parameters need to be integrated with spatial and non-spatial data related to water, like soil moisture, annual rainfall, rivers, aquifer, groundwater levels, water quality etc. 
  • Improving water use efficiency: Agriculture sector is the largest user of water resources in our country. They use 80-85% of water resources, while have only about 30-35% efficiency of water use. Geospatial technologies can be used for increasing water use efficiency, so that this can be increased to at least 50%. 
  • Sharing of best practices: A lot of knowledge exists that can help stakeholders to leverage from and not reinvent the wheel. A central repository of such knowledge base, in the form of a Knowledge Portal can be created and maintained by the Ministry of Jal Shakti that includes case studies, best practices, tools, information on data sources etc. that can be used by 

Conclusion

  • It is critical to use the latest and best digital and spatial technologies to make data-based informed decisions.
  • There is a need for collaborating with stakeholders in the entire ecosystem such as Geospatial organizations, academics, Policy makers, funding agencies.

Source: PIB

 

 
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