Industrial revolution 4.0 in water supply, wastewater and stormwater management: opportunities, challenges, and impacts

Kuok, Kuok King and Chiu, Po Chan and Muhammad Khusairy, Bakri and Md. Rezaur, Rahman and Yun, Chin Mei (2024) Industrial revolution 4.0 in water supply, wastewater and stormwater management: opportunities, challenges, and impacts. ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY REVIEWS, 13 (1). pp. 144-168. ISSN 2162-2523

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Abstract

Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) is the revolution that promotes customized and flexible mass production technologies in automation and manufacturing processes. The application of industrial revolution 4.0, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Cyber-Physical System (CPS), and big data, are used in the water industry to provide better water quality, accurate real-time data, etc. This paper compiles IR 4.0 technology applications, advantages, disadvantages, impacts, and challenges in the water sector, including water supply, wastewater treatment, and stormwater management. It is found that the current water industry is facing a few challenges, such as managing water services, balancing water costs with energy prices, maintaining aging water and wastewater infrastructure, and environmental issues. However, with the application of numerous IR 4.0 innovations, all the challenges can be solved or minimized. Meanwhile, the advantages and impacts of adopting IR 4.0 in water industries are thoroughly discussed. Despite the numerous advantages of IR 4.0, significant drawbacks have restricted the adoption of IR 4.0 in the water industry. The high start-up cost, reluctance, uncertainty, and problems of adopting IR 4.0 are some key challenges that need to be addressed. Generally, IR 4.0 provides more benefits to the community as it helps improve the water system’s performance and efficiencies and creates a more sustainable environment.

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