Water scarcity and drought are two of the greatest challenges facing our planet today. And Italy in particular seems to be at the center of an almost dramatic convergence. The quarter from July to September 2022 will mark a very strong shortage of rain, extended to all the central areas of the Mediterranean.
The result? You know it, you have already seen it in the news: thermal anomalies (with up to + 3 ° C) associated with a significant lack of rain equal to widespread damage to water resources, agriculture and energy production. We risk, says the ANBI observatory on water resources, a water rationing in more than one Italian region.
We need to act quickly
Given the general framework, rapid action is needed to examine how resources are used, and to raise awareness of greater water efficiency, starting with the industrial sector. There is a technology developed for similar cases, which we have told you about Thu e Thu: these are the "virtual twins".
Virtual twin technology is a state-of-the-art tool that can be used to examine how resources are used and to pre-test solutions on an urban or regional scale before applying them to real-world scenarios. A complex system, which requires multidisciplinary approaches and the convergence of different sectors (“diagnostics” through sensors, information technology, artificial intelligence and others). An example applied to urban planning? Take a look here.
From sectors such as healthcare or manufacturing (where they have already been used), virtual twins can now also find space in the optimization of water resources to combat drought.
Virtual experience, real benefit
Water intertwines its fate with all human knowledge. It is not only used to quench people's thirst, or their personal hygiene: the vast majority of agricultural and manufacturing sectors need this precious resource. In response to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which include access to and efficient use of water resources, governments and businesses are looking for ways to manage such a valuable asset as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Virtual twins are an opportunity that allows manufacturing companies, inventors, customers and stakeholders to work together in a 3D virtual environment to generate new objects and processes without having to use physical prototypes that would require large amounts of natural resources.
Solutions like the platform 3DEXPERIENCE developed by the European Dassault Systèmes open the way to a more sustainable production system. Through the "virtual twins" it will be possible to understand the consumption of water in each phase of a process.
Towards a virtuous "supply chain" of water
“By measuring the water footprint of goods and services from design to manufacturing,” he says Guido Porro, Managing Director Southern Europe and AD Italy of Dassault Systèmes, "as well as their effect at the end of their life, the effects will also be reflected immediately on the final consumer ".

How? Simple: through greater awareness. An end customer, for example, can choose to purchase items and services designed, produced and transported with a lower water impact. A sort of "certification" that shows the most attentive companies.
There is no better way, if we want to tackle the problem of water scarcity and drought, than to start the change from every single person and every single company. And there is no better way to organize this action than through advanced technologies such as that of virtual twins.
We will hear about it more and more often.