| NSF Org: |
CBET Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | January 22, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | January 22, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1552444 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Bruce Hamilton
CBET Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | February 1, 2016 |
| End Date: | January 31, 2022 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $507,082.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $507,082.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1000 OLD MAIN HL LOGAN UT US 84322-1000 (435)797-1226 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
8200 Old Main Hill Logan UT US 84322-8200 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | EnvS-Environmtl Sustainability |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
1552444 (Horsburgh)
To overcome challenges in using smart water metering as an effective tool for sustainably managing urban water supplies, an integrated research and education plan called Cyberinfrastructure for Intelligent Water Supply (CIWS) is being implemented. CIWS will investigate novel cyberinfrastructure and analytics to advance smart metering technology, enable detailed characterization of residential water use behavior, and build the scientific data and knowledge base for sustainably managing urban water supplies. CIWS will enable transitioning of existing conventional "dumb" water meters (the vast majority of water meters in use today) into low-cost (~$100) "smart" and computationally-capable devices that can collect high frequency data, use onboard processing capability to "shrink" the collected data by extracting the timing and volume of individual water end uses, and then transmit actionable data products to water managers for analysis - all without replacing or affecting the functionality of the meter. CIWS will be capable of closing critical gaps in understanding of and ability to quantify water use behavior at the household and water system level. It will also enable identification of alternative water management strategies and opportunities for water conservation and increased efficiency.
CIWS and associated residential water use studies offer a way to characterize residential water use and generate new knowledge about: 1) how water use behavior varies across socio-demographic groups and neighborhood types; 2) the timing of water demand and how this information can be used by water providers to ensure water availability and efficiency, plan for related energy demand, and improve customer satisfaction; and 3) how water consumers change their behavior given detailed information about their water use. This information is critical in identifying opportunities for conservation, forecasting demand, and determining how water use patterns may change over time in response to population growth, demographic shifts, and technology improvements. CIWS will advance understanding of water use behavior, the cyberinfrastructure for smart metering, and the pool of "cyber-savvy" professionals and students capable of implementing smart metering, all of which are critical for realizing the promises of smart metering. Mentorship will be provided for a new generation of engineers and scientists who will receive training and engage in research that prepares them to leverage new cyberinfrastructure. Water users will be directly engaged in data collection and information transfer. Hundreds of USU students will engage in a campus "Water Wars" competition aimed at water conservation and sustainability using cyberinfrastructure developed by this project. Logan City and USU Facilities will be integral partners in data collection. Finally, graduate and undergraduate students will be engaged in a visualization challenge using continuous flow data from residential water meters. These efforts will involve participants from underrepresented groups in undergraduate research through targeted recruiting using existing programs at USU.
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The objective of this research was to advance smart water metering and supporting cyberinfrastructure (i.e., the data collection, management, and analysis systems) for building the scientific data and knowledge base required for sustainably managing urban water supplies. Maintaining a safe and adequate urban water supply is a critical societal function that is challenging where supply is limited, and urban populations are growing. While water metering for billing purposes is common practice, meters are traditionally read monthly or even less frequently, leaving gaps in our understanding of and ability to quantify water use at the household and water system level. Newer, "smart" water meters have been developed that promise to revolutionize the way water providers operate and modify water consumer decision making, but smart meters produce large data volumes that make them challenging to use effectively. This project advanced the human and cyberinfrastructure available for building and managing next generation smart water metering systems and their resultant data that can better support management of critical water resources.
We developed new, inexpensive, smart water meter dataloggers for collecting high resolution water use data at residential homes, open software systems for transmitting and managing the data, and openly available algorithms and techniques for extracting decision relevant information from the large datasets collected by smart water meters. Without this type of data infrastructure, the large volume of data produced by smart meters can be more of a roadblock for water mangers than a benefit because many water providers lack dedicated information technology or data collection and management staff. The technologies developed by this project were aimed at enabling water managers and scientists to better quantify how and when people use water, which is critical in closing gaps in our understanding of water use behavior and in providing the information needed by water providers to understand current levels of water use, project future demand, and find opportunities for conserving water where supply is limited. This type of information can also be used by water managers to examine the impacts of alternative water management strategies, which is inmportant in planning for the future.
Finally, we worked to engage local water providers in this research and train students who will be the next generation of professional water managers. We developed new educational materials and programs aimed at enabling students to enhance their skills in data analysis, synthesis, and sustainable decision making so that they can be successful in the rapidly expanding field of data-enabled science and engineering.
Last Modified: 04/26/2022
Modified by: Jeffery S Horsburgh
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