Alternative Water Resource Matching for Depletion-Aware Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional water resource management approaches fail to account for changing availability and quality of water resources due to depletion and degradation, leading to increased scarcity and associated hazards to health, safety, and environmental risks during project lifecycles.
Innovation Solution
A water resource management tool that identifies alternative water resources, matches appropriate treatments or technologies, and determines a levelized value to efficiently allocate and manage water resources throughout a project lifecycle, reducing depletion and degradation risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If conventional water resource management approaches are used, then water is treated as unlimited or readily available, but water availability changes due to depletion and degradation leading to increased scarcity
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary identification and evaluation of alternative water resources before depletion occurs. By proactively assessing multiple water sources and their characteristics in advance, the system prepares contingency plans and allocation strategies that ensure continuous water supply even as traditional sources deteriorate
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors water resource characteristics and uses this feedback to dynamically adjust management strategies. By comparing actual water quality and availability against projected degradation trends, the system adapts allocation decisions to prevent scarcity while ensuring sustainable use of remaining resources
2Productivity
If water resources are depleted to meet project needs, then project requirements are satisfied, but water quality degrades and scarcity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system evaluates and compares different water resources based on their physical and chemical parameters (quality characteristics). By selecting alternative sources with different parameter profiles, the system can meet project water requirements while preserving the quality of critical water resources through optimized allocation and substitution strategies
3Reliability
If alternative water resources are identified and treatments are matched, then water allocation becomes optimized, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a unified platform that performs multiple functions: identifying alternative water resources, characterizing their properties, matching appropriate treatments, and optimizing allocation. By consolidating these functions into a single integrated system rather than separate tools, the system achieves comprehensive water management optimization without proportionally increasing operational complexity
Data Source
AI summary
Water resource management tools including an identifier, executed by a processor, to generate data identifying a set of alternative water resources for a project based on data characterizing a location and data characterizing a set of water characterizations of the water resource, a matcher, executed by the processor, to match one or more treatments or technologies to each alternative water resource of the set of alternative water resources based on the set of water characterizations, and a levelized value engine to determine a levelized value for the water resource based on the data identifying the set of alternative water resources, data characterizing the one or more treatments or technologies and the one or more expenditures of water treatment and transportation for each alternative water resource, the determined levelized value being used to cause one or more of the set water resource to be delivered to the project.