Member Spotlight

Karen Siu, National Director – iHydrant, a McWane company

McWane is a worldwide leader in waterworks products with roots dating back to 1921. What started as a focus on critical components for delivering clean water has turned into a global mission to build waterworks infrastructure and related products. Today, we’re driven by innovation to expand our product lines to meet the essential needs of people across the globe — and for generations to come.

McWane has deep roots in traditional water infrastructure, yet iHydrant represents a step into the digital future. How do you approach the challenge of integrating smart technology into legacy systems while ensuring reliability and long-term sustainability for utilities?

McWane’s history in iron foundries extends over a hundred years and several generations. The reliability of its products such as iron pipes, valves and hydrants have not changed significantly over time. In contrast, technology can change quite fast, so combining that with products that have a very long life cycle presents a unique challenge. McWane found a way to retrofit smart technology into existing fire hydrants that have been in use for decades. By working cohesively as a team to learn from each other understanding what is important from all perspectives (the customer, manufacturing, engineering, sales and support), the result translates into something that satisfies both internal and external stakeholders – finding innovative ways to deliver smart solutions.

In rural areas where resources are limited, the adoption of smart water technology can be a game-changer. How do you see smart technologies helping these areas not just survive but thrive, and what lessons can be shared from their adoption in small towns and rural utilities?

For rural utilities, providing water for customers is costly because they have a smaller population to cover the financial burden of maintaining the infrastructure. Smart technology can help them extend the life of their assets and operate efficiently, be proactive, and help them better allocate limited resources, prioritise infrastructure replacement and save money. Small towns or rural utilities should not wait to take advantage of the latest technology and when they embrace it; the payback is realised much faster because they can be more agile with a full system implementation.

A key lesson from successful implementations is that collaboration and knowledge-sharing are crucial. Many smaller utilities may hesitate to adopt new technology due to perceived complexity or cost, but by forming partnerships or learning from peers who have successfully integrated smart solutions, they can overcome these barriers. Cooperative purchasing agreements, regional shared-service models, and grant funding opportunities can further help make these technologies accessible and sustainable.

Digital transformation in water utilities is not a solo effort. What do you believe the future of collaboration looks like for smart water technology providers, and how can networks like SWAN, through collective knowledge sharing and innovation, contribute to advancing these goals?

Any type of forum that discusses and solves real world challenges that can bring collaboration of water utilities and technology providers together is always a good thing. More partnerships – not just between technology providers but between utilities – are crucial for innovation and thinking outside the box. Sharing successful projects and case stories across international borders can help advance possibilities for future collaboration.

The future of collaboration for smart water technology providers will be built on deeper, more integrated partnerships with utilities, open data standards, and co-developed solutions. Instead of just selling products, providers will need to work closely with utilities to tailor technologies to real operational challenges. Interoperability between systems will be key!

Understanding data is one thing, but applying it effectively is another. What advice would you give young professionals on translating analytics into actionable insights that drive real improvements in water management?

Don’t get caught up in having an abundance of data just to have it. Data can be powerful but also overwhelming. Many times, the data becomes unusable if you can’t make sense of it and understand what it is telling you. There are many platforms that can aggregate data, however, the ones that are able to identify synergies with different data sets and provide useful insights can drive the right decisions to make an impact.