AWS Partner Network (APN) Blog
Building a Water-Secure Future with True Elements Water Intelligence Platform on AWS
By Kim Nelson, Chief Operating Officer – True Elements
By Meg Maffitt, VP Business Strategy – True Elements
By Sundeep Ramachandran, Sr. Partner Solutions Architect, Sustainability – AWS
 |
| True Elements |
 |
You may know that 2023 was the hottest year on record. It was also the year that 28 climate disasters caused losses over $1 billion each in the United States—and all but one of these events were water-related.
Record heat and water-related climate disasters go hand in hand because higher temperatures increase the amount of moisture in the atmosphere, which causes the hydrological cycle to change and intensify. According to the United Nations, 90% of climate change impacts are experienced through water as floods, droughts, and storms are increasing in frequency and intensity worldwide, degrading freshwater resources through depletion and contamination.
Everything needs water to thrive, including business and government. Energy production, manufacturing processes, supply chains, operations, and the workforce all depend on sufficient, reliable, clean water resources.
When water resources are at risk, so is business. CDP estimates the financial impacts of water risk to companies due to water scarcity, pollution, and climate change at $301 billion. That’s five times higher than the cost of addressing those risks now, which is estimated at $55 billion.
Although the hydrologic cycle operates on a global level, water issues are localized, based on specific watershed conditions, and change frequently. To manage water risk, it’s essential to understand what’s happening on the local level.
That’s why leaders need accurate, up-to-date insights into the watersheds where their companies operate. They need a clear understanding of current and future water challenges to make informed decisions on how to address water challenges and identify opportunities to build a water secure future.
In this post, True Elements describes how its Water Intelligence Platform on Amazon Web Services (AWS) transforms large amounts of disparate, complex water data into clear insights for business and community leaders.
True Elements is an AWS Partner and AWS Marketplace Seller that creates the deep, clear water and climate intelligence that leaders need to make informed, effective decisions for the future of their companies, communities, and portfolios.
How Water Intelligence Supports Decision Makers
Business and government leaders need reliable, up-to-date information to help them make critical decisions for their water challenges. This is where the new field of water intelligence can help.
True Elements’ Water Intelligence Platform uses a multi-layer digital twin and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, running on Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS). It can quickly aggregate, synthesize, and transform water data into reliable analyses and forecasts via color-coded numerical TrueQi scores for drinking, storm, waste, industrial, agricultural, and surface water that are geospatially located and supported by additional data layer visualizations.
A Water Resilient Future Requires Water Intelligence
Leaders can interpret situations more accurately because the Water Intelligence Platform helps them understand water challenges in greater context. These insights can lead to more informed decisions which support:
- Capital planning
- Supply chain challenges
- Policy decisions
- Regulatory and financial reporting
- Predictive forecasting
- Risk management
- Innovation
Real-World Applications for Water Intelligence
The Water Intelligence Platform has several applications within different regions and user groups, including at the business and community levels. Each of these use cases involves advanced data and analytics to determine the best way forward for clean, reliable water.
Powering Collective Action
In one example, city and government leaders faced poor water quality that impacted water-based recreation at a major tourist attraction and economic engine for the area.
Using data layering capabilities such as industrial pollutant locations, superfund site proximity, wastewater discharge locations, and EPA’s 303D Impaired Waters, the Water Intelligence Platform provided the insights leaders needed to understand that poor water quality in their area is primarily caused by industrial pollution and wastewater discharge, as shown in Figure 1.
With this information, leaders can work collectively with non-governmental organization (NGOs), industry, and utilities to improve wastewater capture and treatment. They can also establish better monitoring and compliance with discharge regulations and enlist citizen groups to serve as watershed stewards to help maintain water quality.
Figure 1 – Map with TrueQi scores for industrial and wastewater with directional water outflows.
Minimizing Future Flood Damage
In another example, a national manufacturing company experienced flooding issues at several locations over the past several years, resulting in significant loss of production.
Using the Climate Precipitation Calculator tool included in True Elements’ Scenario Forecaster capabilities, leaders can see likely changes in storm intensity and precipitation levels over time. This helps them to understand the likelihood of continued flooding for all manufacturing facilities and the risk of damage (and corresponding loss of production) to each facility, as shown in Figure 2.
These insights can help leaders determine which facilities are secure, which facilities require greater storm and floodwater protection, and which locations should potentially cease operation in the future.
Figure 2 – Climate Precipitation Calculator showing increased rainfall and vulnerability to physical assets.
In addition to showing rainfall and flooding trends in the form of charts and graphs, True Elements’ Water Intelligence Platform also includes color-coded maps. As seen in Figure 3, these maps show the likely impacts of sea-level rise in selected locations.
Figure 3 – Existing water bodies (light blue) with five feet of sea level rise impact (dark blue).
Boosting Innovation
With climate change causing drought, flooding, and water contamination on a global scale, an international food supplier that relies on an extensive supply chain of agricultural producers was concerned about supply chain stability.
True Elements’ Water Intelligence Platform provided insights into current and future water challenges, such as drought or flood risk in the coming decades, current and potential water quality issues impacting supply chains, and where specific crop growth may be unsustainable given changing water conditions.
These insights helped leaders determine their best course of action to ensure future supply chain security. Courses of action could include working with suppliers to adopt water efficient strategies, switching to suppliers with more stable water resources, or switching to less water-intensive crops and reformulating products to include those crops.
Understanding current and future water conditions allows decision makers to explore solutions that create long-term stability and potentially create new revenue sources. For example, by understanding surface water quality and drought status in specific locations, leaders can decide where to invest in new infrastructure or move certain operations. Figure 4 demonstrates what these insights look like in practice.
Figure 4 – TrueQi scores for surface water quality overlayed with drought status.
Conclusion
Climate change and corresponding impacts on the hydrological cycle will continue to increase, changing the availability and quality of the water resources businesses and communities rely on to operate and thrive. Leaders need to better understand how the water resources they depend on are changing and act now to protect those resources and use them more wisely.
In this post, we shared how True Elements’ Water Intelligence Platform turns complex data into easily understandable insights to help business and community leaders improve water use, quality, and planning across industries. It quickly and easily quantifies current water risk and models future challenges, giving decision makers clear insights they need to make informed decisions and build a more resilient future for their organizations.
Check out True Elements website to learn more, and view the Water Intelligence Platform listing in AWS Marketplace.
.
.
True Elements – AWS Partner Spotlight
True Elements is an AWS Partner that creates the deep, clear water and climate intelligence that leaders need to make informed, effective decisions for the future of their companies, communities, and portfolios.