NMSA Releases Report on Digital Technologies in the Agriculture and MS4 Sectors
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Management of urban stormwater systems, in the context of water pollution and climate uncertainty, is a growing challenge for the water sector. Water quality, already under threat by agricultural runoff, is worsened by pollutant loads from urban areas. The power of digital technologies and data analytics has enabled a suite of new solutions to concurrently address these complex challenges within the shared agriculture-water dimension. This report aims to demonstrate the co-optimized benefits derived from digitalization vis-à-vis an overview of digital applications that have delivered smart and sustainable solutions to both sectors.
A widespread digital transformation of the water sector is imperative for its efficiency, sustainability, and long-term financial and operational resiliency. The municipal separate storm sewer systems or “MS4” sector is particularly well-positioned to benefit from advancements in digitalization. Deployment of “big data” and digital technology solutions can enable real-time insight into the quality and performance of a utility’s assets, enhance overall performance through predictiveness and adaptive management, increase efficiency in reporting and compliance, and promote more effective customer engagement, education, and communications.
Agriculture, an early adopter of the digital revolution, harnessed the power of data and integrated market-driven approaches to leverage successful economic and environmental outcomes. Given the nexus of ag-water challenges and solutions, these innovative outcomes in ag can be informative to new approaches and applications in the stormwater sector. The report assimilates a portfolio of case studies that summarizes real-world insights to inform the MS4 sector of the environmental, financial, and business risk-management opportunities of digitalization. It also outlines the impact of digital technologies, some specific applications of interest, and the forward-looking trends for the MS4 sector in the future.
Against the backdrop of current market and non-market signals, a move towards investment in digital solutions becomes increasingly imperative for both the ag and MS4 sectors. This report describes five major drivers of change – policy and regulation; consumer and public awareness; corporate risk and responsibility; investor influence and climate resilience; and asset management and aging infrastructure – that are reshaping markets towards innovative, sustainable systems. The demand for data and environmental transparency will continue to shape factors for both the ag and MS4 sectors to diverge from the status quo, modify their actions, and adopt new technologies, practices, and mechanisms to conform with changing standards and consumer preferences.
Investment in digital innovation and adoption of creative market-driven thinking is key to unlock and accelerate digital sustainability solutions for the MS4 sector. Advanced technologies will lead the transition of the sector from ‘business as usual’ to a ‘digital water’ utility. Lessons learned from digital ag can help propel digital water forward and act synergistically to address nexus issues related to water pollution, water quality, and climate change resiliency.