The water smart grid concept grew out of the electrical smart grid concept in an industry working paper in 2015. At the time (and to date) the concept was focused on command and control, that is smart water meters that can show water usage in real time and turn-on/shut-off water remotely. This is not an exact parallel of the electrical smart grid. In fact, it is a bad parallel as it does not address water equity or the growing water shortages. For that, a smart grid should contain distributed generation, storage, treatment, safety monitoring. This policy project aims to determine if such a system is possible and if it would address water equity and water scarcity.
