Cisco, MCWD deploy sensors to detect real-time water leaks

CEBU, Philippines — Cisco and the Metropolitan Cebu Water District are targeting a 15 percent reduction in water losses across Metro Cebu, using smart sensors and real-time data to detect leaks, pressure problems and other inefficiencies in Cebu’s aging water network.

The companies aim to reduce non-revenue water, or treated water lost before reaching consumers.

The project will initially be piloted in the F. Pacaña area of Labangon, Cebu City, with plans to expand the system across Metro Cebu.

About 32 percent of MCWD’s water supply is currently lost, mainly because of aging pipelines, valves, leaks and pressure problems, according to Cisco.

The technology company is providing networking and industrial edge technologies that will allow MCWD to monitor water flow and pressure in real time.

Data from smart sensors will be fed into a centralized supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, platform. This will give MCWD’s operations teams a real-time view of the water network and help them identify unusual flow patterns and sudden pressure drops.

The system is designed to help detect problems before they lead to major leaks, pipe bursts or service disruptions.

Cisco said the project will also use secure industrial networks, firewalls and zero-trust access controls to protect the water system and restrict access to authorized users and devices.

The architecture can support artificial intelligence-based analytics, allowing MCWD to move from detecting problems to predicting potential failures, Cisco said.

“Metro Cebu continues to face increasing pressure on its water resource management and reducing operational losses is critical to ensuring long-term supply reliability,” MCWD General Manager John DX S. Lapid said.

“With Cisco’s technology, we now have real-time insight into our distribution system, allowing us to respond faster to issues and deliver more efficient, reliable water services across Metro Cebu,” he said.

Zaza Soriano-Nicart, managing director of Cisco Philippines, said the project shows how connected technology can help address infrastructure and sustainability challenges.

The initiative is being carried out under Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration program. It is designed to be scaled across Metro Cebu without requiring MCWD to rebuild its systems from the ground up.

The project could also serve as a model for other Philippine public utilities seeking to use digital technology to improve operations and reduce resource losses.