Digitizing water management: Toward the innovative use of blockchain technologies to address sustainability

Figures & data

Table 1. Blockchain applications

Class	Examples
Currency	Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, Dash, ICON, XRP, Hypercash
General	Escrow transactions, bonded contracts, third-party arbitration, multiparty signature transactions
Financial transactions	Stock, private equity, crowdfunding, bonds, mutual funds, derivatives, annuities, pensions
Public records	Land and property titles, vehicle registrations, business licenses, marriage certificates, death certificates
Identification	Driver’s licenses, identity cards, passports, voter registrations
Private records	IOUs, loans, contracts, bets, signatures, wills, trusts, escrows
Attestation	Proof of insurance, proof of ownership, notarized documents
Physical asset keys	Home, hotel rooms, rental cars, automobile access
Intangible assets	Patents, trademarks, copyrights, reservations, domain names

Source: Adapted from Swan (2015, p. 10)

Table 2. Documents registered digest from proof of existence

Sample Document Digest	Timestamp
320c891df43f3505acdfa3bd4db02fbce691fdda6 8e10bfa65c42902cbfc7cc1	2020–02-11 09:09:54
45ff928c5364b1556bf2480bc64cf74bc88e6ec140 fe5648d368fdeae3091f8b	2020–01-29 01:05:00
071f1ef9de294ebab5858b06f4ee1b54fd8ec748653 962cce289298518d6c517	2019–11-30 03:55:30
c8ef33b52bd36c975ec91a7e29307e46b4 cdf22777d80e3ca2240d5386d4b58a	2019–09-03 14:22:35

Source: calculated using SHA-256 Hash

Table 3. Criteria for sustainability in water management

Criteria	Indicators	Technology
Ecological sustainability	Annual recharge rate Pollution rate	AI, big data
Social sustainability	Water-related disease Access to water	AI, big data
Economic sustainability	Cost price of water Efficient use of water Highest economic return	Blockchain, IoT
Technical sustainability	Durability of water system Promoting efficient use of water system	Blockchain, IoT, AI
Political sustainability	Integrating water policies Institutional capacity Open and democratic planning	Blockchain

Source: Adopted from Donkers (2000) and Klostermann and Cramer (2007).

Figure 1. Proposed framework for water management blockchain.

Figure 2. The proposed infrastructure of blockchain in water management.

Table

Box 1. Case of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico is viewed as a state for motivations behind government ecological guidelines such as the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act (see Ortiz, 2018). Almost all the populace gets their freshwater for drinking and household purposes from the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA). Yet, the country has the most noticeably terrible evidence of water quality infringement. The more significant part of this infringement includes examining positive to raised degrees of contaminants in water and rebelliousness with announcing the problem to the necessary specialists and general society. Water, in clean and fresh quality, is a basic necessity of human, animal, and plant life. In this manner, it is essential to assess the development of such open water arrangement thinking about a cross-disciplinary methodology among natural science and technology innovation. The U.S. Congress made an oversight committee to oversee PRASA in the speculation of an appropriate framework to ensure wellbeing norms in the country’s drinking water. In any case, the information shows that Puerto Rico’s essential issue is an absence of testing and announcing news concerning the nature of drinking water. Innovation gives a possible answer to the issue of announcing and straightforwardness. Right now, the government monitors the water quality through a program that could be upgraded by distributed ledger innovation. Numerous nations have executed the utilization of distributed ledger to scrutinize fundamental issues like the stock of sun-based vitality, straightforwardness of items’ inventory networks, as well as the following of carbon emanations. Executing water management distributed ledger innovation to the country’s procedure of gathering water information can improve the open consciousness of the quality of drinking water, increment the origin of the water tried, and advance regulation responsibility.

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