Stakeholder Workshops: Highlighting Operational Needs for Decentralised Water Systems

Following the insights gathered from local authorities, WATERSENS continued its stakeholder co-design process with a second workshop focused on water utility operators across Spain, Greece, Portugal and South Africa.

While municipalities highlighted governance, funding and regulatory barriers during the first workshop, operators brought a more operational perspective to the discussion, focusing on data resolution gaps, sensor calibration reliability, decentralised treatment monitoring, energy performance and interoperability between systems.

The exchange confirmed that the future WATERSENS Decision Support System (DSS) must go beyond smart alerts and AI predictions. Participants stressed the importance of validated data integration, risk assessment tools, climate-scenario analysis and compatibility with existing operational controls.

Operators also identified additional priorities for the DSS roadmap, including carbon footprint monitoring, greenhouse gas emission risk assessment, land-use adaptation tools, and investment and O&M cost estimation models for small WWTPs.

Together, the two workshops are helping shape a federated and user-driven DSS architecture grounded in the practical realities of both decision-makers and system operators.

The WATERSENS team would like to sincerely thank all participants for their valuable contributions and operational insights.

Stakeholders working on related topics are invited to contribute through the WATERSENS survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZTCG68P

Our next workshop is scheduled for the 21st of May aiming to engage with technology providers and scientific community.