Qatium
Here’s a list of highlights from 2022 at Qatium
Happy holidays from the team at Qatium! It’s been a great year for our monthly QTalks, game-changing platform updates, and fascinating stories from the water sector—be sure to check our list of 10 highlights from 2022 below. But first, let’s take a look at our final QTalk of the year, where top water experts review some key themes and moments they observed in the water industry in 2022.
The water industry in 2022
For our final QTalk this year, water industry experts Will Sarni, Newsha Ajami, Dragan Savic, and our host Tom Freyberg look back at water industry moments and themes that stood out to them over the past 12 months. Top of mind was that digital is here to stay in the water industry, but technology is just one piece of the digital-transformation puzzle for utilities—business strategy, leadership, and culture change are key for utilities to achieve effective digital transformation.
The speakers talked about climate events around the world, like the flooding in Pakistan this year, that brought aging infrastructure and antiquated water models to the forefront. Innovative public policies and laws are needed to incentivize utilities to adopt sustainable strategies and more appropriate water models to meet the challenges of today. This year has also been a significant year for driving awareness of and regulations for PFAs and their negative impact on human health. Watch the video below to hear more from our experts about the water industry in 2022.
10 highlights from Qatium in 2022
1. You can now ingest live data into your Qatium model
In 2022, we updated our water management platform with a “Qatium Ingest” API. It allows you to quickly and easily upload your live data directly to the platform, so you can validate and improve the accuracy of your water network simulations and get answers to your what-if questions with realtime accuracy.
What kinds of live data can Qatium ingest? Easily upload SCADA, AMI, sensor, and other real-time data to your workspace, so you have updated system pressures, pump speeds, valve statuses, tank levels, and other asset statuses all visualized and at your fingertips.
2. You’re in the operator’s control room with “synoptic view”
If you need to visualize or perform large-scale scenarios, you can now run them from a new perspective, Synoptic view. Similar to an operator’s view in a control room, Synoptic view is an alternative to Map view that gives you a high-level view of your network, showing how it’s all interconnected. You can access this view from the Network view panel, and switch back and forth. The impact of any changes in the Synoptic view can also be seen on the Map view.
3. Get collaborative—you can now share your network with the team
This year, one of our favorite product updates is our Shared Workspaces. Shared Workspaces allows you to collaborate with your team members by easily sharing your network. No more working in isolation—you can now create a shared workspace for an entire organization or group of coworkers. That way, if you make updates and changes to your model, everyone can see them. The benefit? Everyone’s on the same page, and you can streamline workflows between modelers and operators. Be sure to drop us a quick line if you want access to this new feature.
4. Qatium’s reached over 80 countries this year
November marked one year since Qatium launched its Water Management Platform at Aquatech in Amsterdam. In just 12 months, we’ve onboarded users from more than 80 different countries around the world. We’re very proud our platform’s had such global reach this year—especially when it comes to helping underserved or remote utilities who are often most impacted by climate change.
5. Small-town Indiana utility can now serve customers better
In 2022, we’ve seen our water management platform make waves, particularly for small utilities leveraging the platform to make their jobs easier, and their customers happier. A utility in Greenville, Indiana, is using their Qatium platform to run simple operational scenarios so they can answer everyday questions, like “What happens to a group of customers’ water pressure if we switch their water supply for a tank repair?” Check out how Qatium empowers Greenville with quick answers to their water management questions.
6. Get the step-by-step help you need with our expanded Help Center
This year, we continued to expand our Help Center, with a special focus on optimizing the onboarding experience for our users. You’ll be happy to watch our new straight-forward, step-by-step video tutorials to answer your most common questions when it comes to using Qatium. If you need help, you’ve got access to short video tutorials, like How to Create Your Qatium Account and How to Import your Model.
Here’s a new tutorial on How to Perform a Flushing Scenario in Qatium:
7. Dragan Savic on building a futureproof tech stack for utilities
In 2022, one of Qatium’s collaborators and water experts Dragan Savic, CEO at KWR Water and Professor of Hydroinformatics at the University of Exeter, shared his predictions for what the techstack of the future will look like for utilities of all sizes. He said technologies for water utilities must be easy to use, affordable, and not just designed for the big players. In fact, a futureproof tech stack will have a huge impact on the smaller utilities who may not have the human or financial capital to invest in expensive technology. Check out what Dragan says the benefits of a futureproof tech stack will be for small utilities, developing countries, and operators.
8. Our chat with Will Sarni—what’s the real value of water?
Another highlight this year was when Qatium Expert Will Sarni, Founder and CEO at Water Foundry, spoke with us about the real value of water. Once thought to be abundant and free, the way we think about water is changing. In this video, Will talks about the value of water from several different vantage points, like water’s ecosystem value, business value, and spiritual-cultural value.
9. Gavin Van Tonder on why utilities aren’t taking action on non-revenue water
Did you know an estimated one-third of all produced drinking water is “lost” before reaching the customer? In August this year, Qatium’s expert collaborator Gavin Van Tonder, Executive Director at NEOM, released a facscinating in-depth look at the issue of non-revenue water and why there’s a lack of action when it comes to reducing water loss in the industry. Be sure to check out Gavin’s 12 reasons why utilities aren’t taking action on non-revenue water to hear what Gavin has to say about taking action on non-revenue water.
10. A two-part QTalk on the role of the utility operator
Finally, our two-part QTalk on the role of the utility operator was a great discussion on what today’s water industry challenges look like for those with boots on the ground. From population growth and climate change to what small utilities with limited resources are focusing on today when the future is so uncertain, these episodes were a highlight for us at Qatium this year. Watch part one below.
What’s in store for 2023?
Thank you to all our experts, staff, users, readers, and watchers for a truly memorable 2022. There’s even more to come in 2023, including our first QTalk of the year in January, where a panel of experts discuss their 2023 predictions for the water industry. Also, stay tuned and have your say on Qatium platform updates that are important to you. If you haven’t signed up for Qatium yet, try it for free today.
