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Applying Big Data in Water Treatment Industry: A New Era of Advance

Authors:
Djamel Ghernaout at University of Hail
Djamel Ghernaout
Mohamed Aichouni at University of Hail
Mohamed Aichouni
Abdulaziz S. Alghamdi at University of Hail
Abdulaziz S. Alghamdi
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It is well-known that water is an invaluable natural resource and it is also obvious that demand is always going to augment and shortages become more frequent. On the other hand, the development of Big Data (BD), machine learning and artificial intelligence, is beginning to offer realistic opportunities to operate water treatment systems in more efficient manners. In fact, BD concerns all the data we now possess and transform it into knowledge that we may directly employ to manage treatment facilities in a better fashion. The right data, analytics, and decision framework may pilot water utilities to a well-optimized efficiency. Indeed, possessing too much data but not sufficiently comprehensible or ready for use, fine-tuning data collection and funneling it into an integrated data management system may be the manner to become more enterprising and make better decisions. However, employing BD in water treatment remains at its first initiating steps. As a future trend, pooling data and using analytical tools to predict where we should be heading to become more proactive will be a great stage towards the water industry advance.
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