The hlhAigua project will enable the detection of leaks and water usage patterns in homes by applying Artificial Intelligence

• The aim of the project is to provide information to managers and residents of short-stay residential environments to promote more sustainable water use.
• The initiative will cross-reference data from water and energy meters and the climate system with meteorological information and consumption surveys, and integrate them into a digital tool.

The hlhAigua project will utilise conventional water and energy meters, along with climate data and consumption surveys, to identify leaks and water-use patterns in short-stay or flex living residential environments. This data will feed into Artificial Intelligence (AI) models and be transformed into clear, actionable information for managers and residents, with the aim of promoting more responsible and sustainable water use.

The project proposes a solution to the challenge posed by residences with high tenant turnover and variable occupancy, where water consumption can easily fluctuate. This situation complicates efficient management and maintenance, as leaks or metering errors can go unnoticed. As a result, operational decisions are often based on intuition rather than objective data.

hlhAigua collects data from each home’s meters and consolidates it on the LOLA platform to provide useful information for managers and residents. The platform integrates data on cold and hot water volumes, the building’s air conditioning system, and energy consumption, and cross-references it with meteorological data and residents’ water consumption surveys to understand the specific context of each home.  With periodic sampling every seven minutes, hlhAigua builds robust time series and cross-references them with additional data sources to extract knowledge about water usage and possible anomalies, while always preserving residents’ privacy.

A useful tool for managers

The initiative will enable contextual detection of water usage and anomalies that go beyond existing solutions on the market. Alerts from Simon’s LOLA platform will show which factors have weighed most heavily in the system’s decision, providing transparency and confidence in the suggested actions.

“The collaboration between two technology centres and a large company enables the project to present a solid technology, based on a real-world context and with a clear path towards commercialisation.. Cetaqua-Centro Tecnológico del Agua provides both expertise in detecting anomalies in water and calculating the water footprint, i2CAT leads the modelling of water uses, and Simon integrates the solution into the LOLA operating platform with separate interfaces for managers and residents,” explains Alba B. Rosado, Knowledge and Brand Ecosystem Manager at Simon.

Raising awareness of the water footprint among residents

Residents who take part in the consumer surveys will receive a report explaining their water footprint—that is, how much water they have consumed—and offering simple tips to reduce their bills. 

“Calculating the water footprint in residential settings is key to raising awareness of the impact of our daily consumption of this precious resource. Making this information available to users allows them to better understand how and how much they consume, and helps them to make more informed decisions,” says Carolina Villa, an h2lWater researcher at Cetaqua.

As Albert Calvo, a researcher on the project at i2CAT, explains, “the application of artificial intelligence in this project has been carried out using behavioural analysis algorithms, which have enabled the profiling of users’ activities in a non-intrusive manner. With this information, specific recommendations have been defined for users from a highly precise understanding that would otherwise be difficult to achieve.”

The hIhAigua initiative has received support from the European Union-NextGenerationEU through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan channelled to the Department of Business and Labour of the Government of Catalonia.