Smart Water Metering System (SWMS) adoption: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Water is fundamental for the economy and for our lives. Managing water scarcity remains one of the most pressing challenges across the globe. Smart Water Meter Systems (SWMS) are Internet of Things (IoT) innovations that have been around for over a decade and several studies on the use of smart water metering data for water management have been conducted. However, they are dispersed across various topics. For sustainable implementation of SWMS, it is necessary to review the existing practical adoption of the system. This paper is a review aimed at finding practical evidence on SWMS adoption by water utilities. A systematic literature review search of relevant databases was conducted using relevant search strings. Papers for the study were chosen based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The main findings of the paper show real-world examples of water utilities that have successfully implemented SWMS, the key benefits of SWMS, and the challenges to SWMS adoption. The study identifies areas where future research can be pursued to better realize SWMS's full potential in promoting sustainable water management.