Digital Innovations for (Ground)water Management: Challenges and Opportunities using the example of the Strategic Pipeline Alliance

Abstract

The East of England is one of the driest regions in the United Kingdom with only around 600 mm average annual rainfall — approximately 70 % of the national average (Met Office 2016). This is due to receiving low amounts of rainfall due to low pressure systems and weather fronts which are coming from the Atlantic and therefore are usually much weaker by the time they reach the east of England. However, the region already faces significant water challenges, as most of eastern England is recorded as being over-abstracted or over-licensed at low flows. Coupled with the population growth in the region and the associated increase in water use, the (ground)water resources in the East of England are affected by numerous challenges.

The Strategic Pipeline Alliance Project led by Anglian Water is a large-scale, holistically linked water transfer system aims to tackle future water shortages in the East of England by transferring water from „wetter to drier areas“ (Anglian Water 2023). It aims to secure the water supply for future generations in the region to make the region resilient to droughts. The Strategic Pipeline Alliance is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe, with 420 km of pipeline which is currently being build and is operated, performance managed and maintained using a digital twin.

Digital technologies — ranging from apps, sensors and water meters to artificial intelligence, machine learning or digital twins — are increasingly being adopted in the water sector. This digital transformation of the water sector allows for example to monitor the water quality and quantity in real time as well as directly engage with the consumers. These new digital water technologies create new (in)visibilities and (un)certainties regarding the (ground)water, which is being mediated through and with those new tools.

My contribution aims to unveil some of these newly emerging (in)visibilities and (un)certainties which are created through and with digital technologies to better understand the role of these newly emerging digital tools in the water sector. I critically examine the Strategic Pipeline Alliance Project in the East of England through the lens of Political Ecology and combine this with insights from Science and Technology Studies and Digital Geographies.

Literature:

Anglian Water. 2023. New water pipelines. Zugriff 22.2.2023.
https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/about-us/our-strategies-and-plans/new-water-pipelines/.

Met Office. 2016. Eastern England. Climate. Zugriff 22.2.2023.
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/content/assets/metofficegovuk/pdf/weather/learn-about/uk-past-events/regional-climates/eastern-england_-climate—met-office.pdf.