By Liz Enbysk

SGN Managing Editor

Our job is to stay ahead of trends. Not just to alert you, but also to collect the resources you need to stay on top of those developments. That's why in the last year or so we've launched channels about DMS, about Grid Optimization, and about Electronomics.

Now we're announcing a channel, sponsored by Sensus, about a growing issue that intersects electric power but transcends it as well.

Smart Water

Getting on the phone with folks from Sensus to talk about the idea of a Smart Water

But we heard much more.

From its vantage point as a thought leader in water metering and evolving smart water networks, Sensus understands the sustainability crisis looming worldwide and the critical role that water – or lack of it – plays. Simply put, you've got to have large volumes of water to produce energy. And lots of readily available and low-cost energy is essential to treat and distribute water. When you consider that agriculture -- and food production and distribution -- are all water and energy dependent, you can see where this is going.

The electricity industry in the U.S. is second only to agriculture as the largest user of water, according to Sandia National Laboratories, which also notes that "An increasing population will not only need more electricity but also more food, pushing the nation's two largest water users into potential competition for limited water resources."

The outlook is equally grim pretty much everywhere. According to the World Economic Forum:

In 2050, to meet demand from a rising and increasingly carnivorous population, we will need to grow and process 70 percent more food. This technological and logistical challenge is made all the harder by the fact that by 2030, we'll be confronting a water supply shortage of approximately 40 percent due to a toxic combination of rising demand and climate-change-driven shifts in water supply. Facing these clear resource constraints, businesses will need to adapt, and soon.

But this energy/water nexus, as it's often referred to, is not tomorrow's problem. Water scarcity is already a desperate situation in many parts of the world. A few examples:

·         Major water crisis looms in Byo- Zimbabwe

·         Severe water crisis in Nandigama – India

·         Backlash deepens over water crisis – Ireland

·         US not prepared for growing water crisis

·         Growing rice with little water – Thailand

·         Oxfam: South Sudan refugees face water shortages

·         Water and will in short supply in China