Stakeholder Engagement Risks and Opportunities to pilot a Water Data Management Ecosystem

Data-driven decision making, and the use of data-intensive technologies are on the rise within the water sector. Such a paradigm shift warrants for more efficient management of data. To address this, within the European Union Horizon Europe project WATERVERSE, Water Data Management Ecosystems (WDME) are being developed. The aim of this project is to research a way to make water data management affordable, accessible, secure, fair and easy to use.  WATERVERSE has demonstration cases in six different countries (Cyprus, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, and the UK).

Stakeholder engagement is key to ensure the proper development of WDME. Each stakeholder is bound to strict regulations, policies, societal norm, etc. Through proper stakeholder management, this project aims to implement a strategic policy and commitment across stakeholders to reduce data management risks and provide data sharing opportunities. These goals were accomplished through the mapping of the main actors (e.g. end-users, policy makers, citizens) along with the challenges and expectations. In the Dutch case, stakeholder engagement involves gathering all the main actors in the development of a digital twin of the IJsselmeer for chloride predictions.  

Many challenges and drivers effect the technological development of a digital twin of the Ijsselmeer. Challenges such as tough data ownership rules and security polices hinder water data management and transfer. There are drivers for more data from new sources and advanced analytics.  

Additionally, to foster communication, Multi-Stakeholder Forums (MSF) are used to facilitate the dialogue process. MSF arranged dialogue on the topics of objectives and roles, challenges, and future vision of digital spaces in the water sector.  Stakeholders established in the MSFs their level of commitment, interest, and influence in data management.

Data gathered through stakeholder engagement will provide the technical side of WATERVERSE to develop critical infrastructure for the development of data spaces. This will ultimately lead to better decision making and more resilience water utilities in the water sector.