Water Management in Barcelona

Organisation type

Public administration at local level

Use case area

Environment

Geographic scope

Spain

Domain

Environment
Governance and implementation

Challenge:

Parks in cities offer numerous benefits, including providing green spaces for recreation, improving air quality, and enhancing the overall well-being of residents. They serve as communal areas where people can relax, exercise, and connect with nature, contributing to a healthier and more vibrant urban environment. However, maintaining these parks can be challenging. It requires consistent funding, dedicated staff, and a substantial amount of water required to keep the greenery healthy, especially during dry seasons. This necessitates efficient water management practices to balance the ecological benefits with sustainable resource use.

Approach:

The park watering solution is based on a platform developed for a city called Sentilo. It is open source and available for reuse by other governments. It uses a network of sensors and IoT devices to monitor environmental parameters like soil moisture, temperature, and humidity. The sensors collect data and send it to a central system for real-time analysis. Based on this analysis, the system automatically controls the irrigation to optimise water usage and maintain plant health. The platform includes a user interface for park managers to monitor and adjust settings. It uses environmental, historical, and geospatial data to make informed decisions. The implementation involved planning, sensor installation, data integration, algorithm development, and system calibration. Continuous monitoring ensures the system operates correctly. The open-source nature allows for community contributions and scalability. Comprehensive documentation supports other governments in adopting and customising the platform.

Outcomes:

The initiative, which covers 68% of public parks, has enabled the city to achieve a 25% increase in water conservation and significant financial savings. The broader Sentilo platform manages and shares data with both citizens and city workers. To enhance citizen access, the city established 44 kiosks where residents can obtain information, access services, and submit requests to the government. The decision to make the platform open was made to enable developers of future sensor networks or mapping and analysis software to use the data for their own projects. Additionally, the platform facilitates information sharing among city departments, helping to prevent redundant efforts.

Data Sources:

IoT sensors placed within parks in Barcelona gather real-time data on humidity, temperature, wind speed, sunlight, and atmospheric pressure. This information is made available on Sentilo, a platform developed by the City of Barcelona and made available as open-source software.

Additional Information:

Point of Contact:

io [dot] sentilogmail [dot] com (io[dot]sentilo[at]gmail[dot]com)