As the world continued to face rapid global urbanisation, climate change and increasing water scarcity in 2023, DHI helped cities devise more holistic adaptation and mitigation strategies to deal with increasing populations, a changing climate and evolving regulatory requirements.
DHI helped optimise urban water management by implementing innovative and sustainable solutions to ensure clean water for drinking and clean environments for living. We collaborated with clients to ensure clean drinking water, alleviate flood risks and optimise energy consumption.
We leverage the latest technological advancements and knowledge to develop water management tools that foster better collaboration, predict the effects of interventions and accelerate implementation processes. Our solutions focus on planning, design and operation of urban infrastructure and help ensure liveable cities, now and in the future.
Our solutions include:
Water supply and distribution – Accessing real-time data and information on water supply and distribution systems to drive improvements in delivering a continuous supply of high-quality and affordable drinking water from source to tap
Wastewater treatment – Enabling ways to increase capacity, reduce effluent concentrations, become an energy producer rather than consumer and recover valuable and scarce resources. Establishing automated data-driven operations to minimise risks of human error and ensure regulatory compliance
Urban drainage – Supporting cities and utilities to achieve sustainable and efficient wastewater and stormwater management for daily operations and long-term strategic planning, reducing the risks and environmental impact, supporting regulatory compliance and justifying efficient investments in infrastructure and development
Product safety and chemical regulatory compliance – Assisting industries in complying with chemical and chemical product regulations. Our integrated approach combines in-depth knowledge of chemicals with regulatory expertise
Resource efficiency and industrial production risk – Supporting industrial clients in achieving resource efficiency and reduction of waste within the entire industrial value chain
Tracing sources of PFAS
Our urban projects in 2023 included tracing the sources of PFAS in wastewater. Denmark’s largest wastewater utility
BIOFOS asked DHI to trace the sources of PFAS and other environmentally harmful substances in the catchment area of 15 municipalities in the Greater Copenhagen area together with the 15 catchment municipalities. The investigation provided these municipalities with a tool for identifying the major sources of PFAS contamination in their municipality.
‘PFAS chemicals are ubiquitous, and we need to work together to limit PFAS from contaminating the environment. We can identify hot spots that contribute the majority of PFAS to wastewater treatment plants. But we need to have a holistic and pragmatic approach to the PFAS challenge and this will require joint efforts from many stakeholders’, explains Kristina Buus Kjær, DHI’s Head of Projects in Wastewater Treatment.
A digital twin for rainwater management In another project, DHI implemented a digital twin for a
rainwater management project in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The goal is to support decision-making processes related to the operation of the reservoir retention system in the Bydgoszcz area based on data provided by measurement systems, which will then be processed by artificial intelligence.
The team will implement Future City Flow, DHI’s web-based decision support system and digital twin that will help Bydgoszcz Utility improve the efficiency of water resources management. Waldemar Mlaś, DHI’s Vice President for Water Supply & Urban Drainage in Central and Southern Europe says, ‘Using the power of a digital twin, Bydgoszcz Utility will be able to better execute weather-adapted control strategies to mitigate the effects of increased rainfall on infrastructure.’