Abstract
Water is a critical and indispensable resource for the sustainability of life, economic development, and the environment. According to the United Nations (UN) estimates, 70% of the world’s population will live in cities by the year 2025, and the current centralized piped infrastructure relied upon by water utilities will be inadequate. Leveraging on the advancement in emerging blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), and sensor technologies offers a means for efficient water management. In this era of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), human creativity will be a critical requirement in this regard. This chapter explores the impact of blockchain and IoT on water management and examines the feasibility of its adoption in multiple case scenarios and instances such as stormwater management, water quality monitoring and reporting directly to consumers and other relevant stakeholders, and smart payment and contract, in order to sustainably deal with the challenges of global water crisis induced by climate change and rapid population growth. This chapter makes special and unique emphasis on the relevance of the research through an African perspective and view. Furthermore, the technical advantages, socioeconomic gains, and technological benefits of synergizing blockchain and IoT such as enhanced security and transparency, reduced operational cost, overall efficiency, and other merits are expatiated.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, M. (2012). Case study: A smart water grid in Singapore. Water Practice and Technology, 7(4), 1–8.
Al-Turjman, F., & Alturjman, S. (2018). Context-sensitive access in industrial internet of things (IIoT) healthcare applications. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 14(6), 2736–2744.
Aquaoso. (2018). The power of IoT AI blockchain & hustle in water. Available: https://aquaoso.com/power-iot-ai-blockchain-hustle-water. Accessed 6 August 2018.
Atzori, M. (2016). Blockchain-based architectures for the internet of things: A survey. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2846810.
Ayemba, D. (2017). Why Africa needs water metering. Available: https://constructionreviewonline.com/2017/04/africa-needs-water-metering/. Accessed 20 August 2018.
Bahga, A., & Madisetti, V. K. (2016). Blockchain platform for industrial internet of things. Journal of Software Engineering and Applications, 9(10), 533–546. https://doi.org/10.4236/jsea.2016.910036.
Bitcoin Africa. (2017). African’s blockchain startups. Available: https://bitcoinafrica.io/category/meet-africas-blockchain-startups/. Accessed 10 April 2018.
Bosire, B. (2017). Disrupting the water business. Available: https://www.hydroiq.africa/single-post/2017/12/05/Value-in-every-drop. Accessed 19 August 2018.
Carden, K., & Fisher-Jeffes, L. (2017). Stormwater harvesting could help South Africa manage its water shortages. Available: http://theconversation.com/stormwater-harvesting-could-help-south-africa-manage-its-water-shortages-74377. Accessed 17 August 2018.
Chen, C-Y., Hasan, M., & Mohan, S. (2017). Securing real-time internet-of-things. Available: http://arxiv.org/abs/1705.08489. Accessed 20 August 2018.
Chief Technology Officer. (2018). Hashing out the future of blockchain for the water industry. Available: https://www.originclear.com/pdf/Blockchain-Article.pdf. Accessed 8 August 2018.
Christidis, K., & Devetsikiotis, M. (2016). Blockchains and smart contracts for the internet of things. IEEE Access, 4, 2292–2303. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2016.2566339.
Cloete, N. A., Malekian, R., & Nair, L. (2016). Design of smart sensors for real-time water quality monitoring. IEEE Access, 4, 3975–3990. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2016.2592958.
Conte de Leon, D., Stalick, A. Q., Jillepali, A. A., Haney, M. A., & Sheldon, F. T. (2017). Blockchain: Properties and misconceptions. Asia Pacific Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 11(3), 286–300. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJIE-12-2017-034.
Corsaro, A. (2016). The cloudy, foggy and misty internet of things - towards fluid IoT architectures. Available: https://icpe2016.spec.org/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/icpe_2016/2016.03.16-Fluid-IoT-cready.pdf. Accessed 28 August 2018.
Cuellar, A., Pallaske, G., & Wuennenberg, L. (2017). Stormwater markets: Concepts and applications. International Institute for Sustainable Development. Available: https://www.iisd.org/sites/default/files/publications/stormwater-markets-concepts-applications.pdf. Accessed 6 August 2018.
Dickson, B. (2016). Decentralizing IoT networks through blockchain. Available: http://social.techcrunch.com/2016/06/28/decentralizing-iot-networks-through-blockchain/. Accessed 7 September 2018.
Dorri, A., Kanhere, S. S., & Jurdak, R. (2016). Blockchain in internet of things: Challenges and solutions. Available: http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.05187. Accessed 25 August 2018.
Fernandez-Carames, T. M., & Fraga-Lamas, P. (2018). A review on the use of blockchain for the internet of things. IEEE Access, 6, 32979–33001. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2842685.
Ferrag, M. A., Derdour, M., Mukherjee, M., Derhab, A., Maglaras, L., & Janicke, H. (2018). Blockchain technologies for the internet of things: Research issues and challenges. Available: http://arxiv.org/abs/1806.09099. Accessed 25 August 2018.
Garg, P. (2018). Can blockchain technology help solve the water crisis. Available: http://btcmanager.com/can-blockchain-technology-help-us-solve-the-water-crisis. Accessed 6 August 2018.
Haber, S., & Stornetta, W. S. (1991). How to time-stamp a digital document. Journal of Cryptology, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00196791.
Hachani, A. (2017). IoT as an enabler for smart water management. ITU regional Workshop on Prospects of Smart Water Management (SWM) in Arab Region, Khartoum-Sudan, 12 December 2017.
Hall, M. (2017). How to make an Internet of Things work for Africa. Available: http://www.gsbbusinessreview.gbs.uct.ac.za/make-internet-things-work-for-africa. Accessed 6 August 2018.
Atlam, H. F., Alenezi, A., Alassafi, M. O., & Wills, G. B. (2018). Blockchain with internet of things: Benefits, challenges, and future directions. International Journal of Intelligent Systems and Applications, 9(6), 40–48. https://doi.org/10.5815/ijisa.2018.06.05.
Hitachi. (2018). Intelligent Water Systems. Available: http://www.hitachi.com/businesses/infrastructure/product_site/water_environment/intelligent_water/index.html. Accessed 9 September 2018.
IIoT World. (2018). Smart water management using Internet of Things technologies. Available www.iiot-world.com/category/connected-industry. Accessed 6 August 2018.
ILNAS. (2018). Internet of things (IoT): Technology, economic view and technical standardization. Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg. Available: https://portail-qualite.public.lu/dam-assets/publications/normalisation/2018/white-paper-iot-july-2018.pdf. Accessed 9 September 2018.
Impact Chain Lab. (2017). Managing our water with blockchain. Available: https://medium.com/@impactchainlab/managing-our-water-supply-with-blockchain. Accessed 6 August 2018.
IOT Now Magazine. (2018). Case study: ‘Intelligence on tap’, inside veolia water’s smart grid for water services deployment. Available: https://www.iot-now.com/2018/01/19/74838-intelligence-tap-inside-veolia-waters-smart-grid-water-services-deployment/. 3 Sept 2018.
ITU News. (2014). Success stories in smart water management. Available: http://itunews.itu.int/en/4852-Success-stories-in-smart-water-management.note.aspx. Accessed 16 August 2018.
Jallé, L. C., Désille, D., & Burkhardt, G. (2013). Urban stormwater management in developing countries. Available: http://documents.irevues.inist.fr/bitstream/handle/2042/51221/1A2P07-005LEJ.pdf?sequence=1. 10 Aug 2018.
Jesus, E.F., Chicarino, V.R.L., de Albuquerque CV, & Rocha, A. A. D. A (2018) A survey of how to use blockchain to secure internet of things and the stalker attack. Security and Communication Networks (Hindawi Limited, 2018, Article ID 967050:1–27, doi:https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/9675050.
Kamstrup. (2013). Smart-water-meter-passes-test-in-South-Africa. Available: https://www.kamstrup.com/en-en/news-and-events/news/smart-water-meter-passes-test-in-south-africa. Accessed 19 August 2018.
Khan, M. A., & Salah, K. (2018). IoT security: Review, blockchain solutions, and open challenges. Future Generation Computer Systems, 8(2), 395–411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2017.11.022.
Kimbel, K. (2018). The secret behind the blockchain technology. Available https://pecb.com/past-webinars/the-secret-behind-the-blockchain-technology. Accessed 14 April 2018.
Kshetri, N. (2017). Can blockchain strengthen the internet of things? IT Professional, 19(4), 68–72. https://doi.org/10.1109/MITP.2017.3051335.
Lee, S. W., Sarp, S., Jeon, D. J., & Kim, J. H. (2015). Smart water grid: The future water management platform. Desalination and Water Treatment, 55(2), 339–346. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443994.2014.917887.
Lin, Y., Petway, J., Lien, W., & Settele, J. (2018). Blockchain with artificial intelligence to efficiently manage water use under climate change. Environments, 5(3), 34. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments5030034.
Martyusheva, O. (2014). Smart water grid. Plan B Technical Report, MSc Thesis, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University. Available: http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~pierre/ce_old/resume/Theses%20and%20Dissertations/Martyusheva,Olga_PlanB_TechnicalReport.pdf. Accessed 20 March 2018.
Mehta, Y. (2016). How the Internet of Things helps in water management. Available: http://iotworm.com/internet-things-helps-water-management-system/. Accessed 8 August 2018.
Minerva, R., Biru, A., & Rotondi, D. (2015). Towards a definition of the internet of things (IoT). IEEE internet of things. www.iot.ieee.org.
Mutchek, M., & Williams, E. (2014). Moving towards sustainable and resilient smart water grids. Challenges, 5(1), 123–137. https://doi.org/10.3390/challe5010123.
Nakamoto, S. (2008). Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Available: http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf. Accessed 20 March 2018.
Nicolson, A. (2017). Harvesting the storms. Available: http://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2017-09-15-harvesting-the-storms. Accessed 19 August 2018.
Ntuli, N., & Abu-Mahfouz, A. (2016). A simple security architecture for smart water management system. Procedia Computer Science, 83(2016), 1164–1169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2016.04.239.
Okikie, O. (2018). Full list of 50 African startups exhibiting at AIS Rwanda 2018. Available: https://smepeaks.com/2018/06/01/top-50-african-startups-exhibiting-ais-rwanda/. Accessed 4 September 2018.
Public Utilities Board Singapore. (2016). Managing the water distribution network with a smart water grid. Smart Water, 1(4), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40713-016-0004-4.
Quartz Africa. (2017). African countries want to turn their poor, overcrowded urban centers into “smart cities”. Available: https://nextbillion.net/news/african-countries-want-to-turn-their-poor-overcrowded-urban-centers-into-smart-cities/. Accessed 18 August 2018.
Reyna, A., Martín, C., Chen, J., Soler, E., & Díaz, M. (2018). On blockchain and its integration with IoT. Challenges and opportunities. Future Generation Computer Systems, 88, 173–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2018.05.046.
Robles, T., Alcarria, R., Martin, D., Navarro, M., Calero, R., Iglesias, S., & Lopez, M. (2014). An IoT based reference architecture for smart water management processes. Journal of Wireless Mobile Networks, Ubiquitous Computing, and Dependable Applications, 6(1), 4–23.
Rose, K., Eldridge, S., & Chapin, L. (2015). The internet of things: An overview – Understanding the issues and challenges of a more connected world. The Internet Society (ISOC). Available: http://www.internetsociety.org/sites/default/files/ISOC-IoT-Overview-20151221-en.pdf. Accessed 6 August 2018.
Ryder, G. (2018). How ICTs can ensure the sustainable management of water and sanitation. Available: https://news.itu.int/icts-ensure-sustainable-management-water-sanitation/. Accessed 5 September 2018.
Salam, M. (2018). Smart water management using Internet of Things technologies. Available: https://iiot-world.com/connected-industry/smart-water-management-using-internet-of-things-technologies/. Accessed 6 August 2018.
Samaila, M. G., Neto, M., Fernandes, D. A. B., Freire, M. M., & Inácio, P. R. M. (2017). Security challenges of internet of things. In J. M. Batalla, G. Mastorakis, C. X. Mavromoustakis, & E. Pallis (Eds.), Beyond the internet of things: Everything interconnected (pp. 53–82). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Sensus. (2012). Water 20/20: Bringing smart water networks into focus. Sensus. Available: https://www.swan-forum.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/218/2016/05/sensus_water2020-usweb.pdf. Accessed 9 August 2018.
Mendonca, S. F. T. D. O., da Silva Junior, J. F., & de Alencar, F. M. R.. (2017). The Blockchain-based Internet of Things development: Initiatives and challenges. The Twelfth International Conference on Software Engineering Advances (ICSEA 2017), October 8–12, 2017, Athens, Greece.
Siemens. (2014). Smart sensors for smart water grids. Available: https://w3.siemens.com/mcms/solution-partner/en/home/industry/Documents/event-2014-10-10/4_Smart_Sensors_for_smart_water_grids.pdf. Accessed 3 September 2018.
Snyder, D. (2017). Blockchain technology for the Internet of Things. 42TEK Inc. Available: https://californiaconsultants.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/CNSV-1701-SnyderManianGreco.pdf. Accessed 10 August 2018.
Stinson, C. (2018). How blockchain AI other emerging technologies could end water insecurity. Available: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-blockchain-ai-and-other-emerginging-technologies-could-end-water-insecurity. Accessed 6 August 2018.
Tadokoro, H., Onishi, M., Kageyama, K., Kurisu, H., & Takahashi, S. (2011). Smart water management and usage systems for society and environment. Hitachi Review, (3), 60, 165.
The Stormwater Report. (2014). Danish researchers look at stormwater management in Africa. Available: http://stormwater.wef.org/2014/09/landscape-based-stormwater-management-in-africa/. Accessed 4 September 2018.
Tsague, H. D., & Twala, B. (2018). In N. Dey, A. Hassanien, C. Bhatt, A. Ashour, & S. Satapathy (Eds.), Practical techniques for securing the Internet of Things (IoT) against side channel attacks, in Internet of Things and big data analytics toward next-generation intelligence (pp. 439–481). Cham: Springer.
UN. (2015). Sustainable development goals: 17 Goals to transform our world. Available: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/. Accessed 6 August 2018.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the University of Johannesburg for the funding and affording the resources to complete this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dogo, E.M., Salami, A.F., Nwulu, N.I., Aigbavboa, C.O. (2019). Blockchain and Internet of Things-Based Technologies for Intelligent Water Management System. In: Al-Turjman, F. (eds) Artificial Intelligence in IoT. Transactions on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04110-6_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04110-6_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04109-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04110-6
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)