Digitalisation and Management

Digital transformation in public drinking water supply takes place in data acquisition, data management and IT security. TZW's expertise lies in solving complex issues and problems faced by water supply companies. This is achieved either by providing direct technical support to companies or as part of practical research projects. All areas of drinking water supply - from resource protection to extraction, treatment and distribution - are taken into consideration. Research at TZW always considers the topic of digitalisation in its projects. Recognising trends and the resulting requirements are an integral part of effective research management.

Digitalisation

Digitalisation permeates practically all areas of water research, from analysis and treatment to drinking water distribution. Algorithms help, for example, in the evaluation of complex analysis data, where the data volume for a single water sample, including triple measurements and blanks, can already comprise a storage volume of around one gigabyte. Other typical focal points of digitalisation at TZW are data acquisition (e.g. sensors), data storage (e.g. databases) or data-driven applications (e.g. prediction models). Numerous research projects in this field form the basis for software solutions and services that TZW has developed and advanced for its customers. More information can be found on the Solutions - Digitalisation page.

Research management

Over 50 research projects carried out at TZW each year require forward-looking planning and coordination. The objectives here are to provide impetus for TZW research, to incorporate new developments in the various specialist areas of water supply and to take overarching trends into account. As a result of the close scientific and technical cooperation with both water supply companies and scientific institutions, TZW can recognise the practical significance of newly published or its own scientific results at an early stage and develop them for practical application. This also requires TZW-internal coordination of the individual working groups in order to utilise synergies and avoid redundancies. A high degree of autonomy on the part of the working groups at TZW is an essential key to success.

DVGW Water Research

One of the first research programmes of the DVGW for the water sector started in 1982. Research programmes have been regularly updated ever since. Based on experiences from cooperating with water supply companies on one side and international networks on the other, TZW actively contributes to updating the DVGW research programmes.