Tapping into the benefits of open data in the water industry

Open data has the power to increase efficiency, enable innovation and boost transparency in the water industry. Other sectors, such as energy, have already proved that sharing data enables them to deepen collaboration and meet challenges around climate change, protecting the environment, and meeting changing customer needs.

Ofwat is firmly committed to encouraging greater open data use. In its H2Open paper from October 2021, the regulator defines open data as “making data freely available to everyone to access, use and share”.
It also set a clear deadline for the industry to move forward, promising to evaluate progress in autumn 2022 and not ruling out regulation to accelerate change.

On the positive side, the UK is further advanced in water open data than many other markets, giving the industry the opportunity to lead the world. However, there are a number of challenges to letting data flow – and lessons that the sector can learn from others that help overcome them.

The benefits of open data

Let’s start with the benefits, which span three areas.

Firstly, by providing more detailed information on the performance of assets, especially through sensors, data can increase efficiency, boost collaboration, and improve decision making. Essentially it supports and benefits wider digitisation efforts.

Secondly, open data stimulates opportunities to innovate. Data can be used to underpin new business models and to launch services that improve the customer experience, such as apps. Sharing data more widely with other sectors can solve bigger issues – just look at the use of water testing data as part of the COVID-19 response, for example.

Thirdly, opening data enables companies to become more transparent, sharing information around their performance and plans with customers, other stakeholders, regulators, and government in ways that everyone can easily access and understand. This builds trust and shows the public value of the industry and its activities.

The obstacles and opportunities

The benefits are clear – but so are the challenges. It isn’t just about opening the data taps – data has to be high quality, easily available, secure, and able to meet common standards. It has to protect confidentiality and meet the different needs of a wide range of stakeholders.

All of this requires an open data infrastructure based on a combination of strong governance, a data culture, and the right skills and capabilities. It will take significant internal change and needs to be led and championed from the top – everyone will have to buy into the benefits of open data for it to deliver maximum benefit.

You can’t underestimate these challenges, particularly around culture change. However, other utilities from across the UK and Europe have successfully been through this process, meaning the water industry can learn lessons from them.

• UK Power Networks built an open data portal in four months and has created a vibrant open data community by engaging with its users.

• EDP in Portugal is sharing sensor data from its energy production facilities externally, such as through competitions, to find innovative solutions to problems that the business faces.

• The French ODRÉ portal brings together multiple French energy companies, providing a comprehensive view across the sector through visualisations that can be drilled down into for more detail.

Accelerating open data in the water industry

Data is an asset to water companies and, as with every asset, it has to be used effectively. Programmes and collaborations have already been launched to encourage greater cross-industry data sharing, such as the Stream project that involves 11 water utilities and has received initial funding from Ofwat. But there’s still much to do – and the Ofwat deadline is coming up fast.

Now is therefore the time for the water industry to accelerate the process of opening up its data, putting in place the right resources, governance and culture to really unlock the value that data provides. Open data promises to support the sector’s key goals around efficiency, reaching net zero, and becoming more transparent. Learning from other utilities across Europe and adopting the best practice that they’ve already developed is crucial to becoming truly open and creating an environment where data flows as seamlessly as water inside and outside organisations.

For further information, visit: https://www.opendatasoft.com/