The Background
Iguá Saneamento is one of Brazil's leading private water and sanitation companies, operating water treatment plants, distribution networks, and sewage collection and treatment systems for over 7 million people across 121 municipalities in 6 Brazilian states. Through 10 major operations, including large state concessions in Rio de Janeiro and Sergipe, the company captures raw water, treats it to potable standards, distributes it through extensive pipeline networks, and manages the entire sewage cycle from collection to treatment and disposal. Operating under 30-35 year concession contracts and public-private partnerships with governments, Iguá is responsible for infrastructure investment, daily operations, customer billing, and service delivery.
The company faces significant operational challenges typical of Brazilian water utilities. Approximately 40% of treated water is lost through leaks, theft, and measurement errors in aging pipeline infrastructure before reaching customers, creating both service quality issues and revenue losses.
Iguá Saneamento discovered that only a digital transformation, led by IoT, could meet their various needs and overcome their greatest challenges. Intelligent sensors, smart connectivity, and data analysis would become pivotal to what Iguá does and how they do it.
The Challenge
Iguá Saneamento identified critical operational inefficiencies that were undermining their ability to deliver reliable water services while meeting regulatory compliance standards. Iguá quickly discovered that their challenges would need smart IoT solutions.
With Brazil's sanitation sector losing approximately 40% of treated water before reaching consumers, Iguá needed to transform their approach to network monitoring and asset management to achieve both operational excellence and regulatory compliance.
Lack of Network Visibility
The company operated with no real-time visibility into their distribution infrastructure, identifying network breaks and pressure drops only after receiving customer complaints.
Uncontrolled Water Losses
Leaks remained undetected for weeks while meter reading failures, stuck meters, and fraud occurred simultaneously with the need to maintain adequate flow and pressure standards.
High Traditional Telemetry Costs
Installing sensors using traditional methods required extensive energy and communication infrastructure, making large-scale deployment cost-prohibitive.
The Solution
Iguá Saneamento uses TagoIO's IoT platform to monitor thousands of sensors for real-time leak detection and predictive maintenance, reducing the 40% water loss issue. Only this intelligent multi-sensor approach could meet their biggest challenges.
The company needed a flexible, scalable solution that could integrate smart meters, pressure and flow sensors, and reservoir level monitors while providing real-time visibility & analysis capabilities.
Custom Operational Dashboards
TagoIO enabled creation of customized dashboards providing real-time network visibility that was previously unavailable.
Real-Time Monitoring and Alerts
The platform delivered intelligent alerting for early detection of leaks, pressure drops, and equipment failures. This proactive monitoring replaced reactive maintenance.
Scalable Multi-Technology Integration
TagoIO's platform enabled Iguá to integrate multiple sensor technologies and connectivity protocols (LoRaWAN, 4G, NB-IoT) across dispersed operations, allowing deployment of the most suitable technology for each location's specific needs.
Digitalization is an essential element to ensure excellence in Iguá's service delivery. It enables greater operational control and security, agility in identifying and solving problems, as well as bringing the company closer to the customer, strengthening the relationship and improving operational efficiency.
Eric Wormann Maffazzioli, Director of Operations
The Solution in Action
Iguá’s Smart IoT Operations Control Center
Meters are now based on LPWAN connectivity
The Results
Iguá Saneamento achieved transformational operational improvements through TagoIO's IoT platform implementation, delivering enhanced network visibility, cost efficiency, and customer service quality. The solution enabled proactive asset management while significantly reducing deployment costs and timeframes compared to traditional approaches.
1. Real-Time Network Visibility
The platform provided complete infrastructure visibility, enabling early detection of leaks and pressure issues that previously went unnoticed for weeks.
2. Rapid Deployment with Cost Savings
TagoIO enabled establishment of a complete Operations Control Center in under 60 days with approximately 70% cost reduction compared to traditional telemetry solutions.
3. Enhanced Regulatory Compliance
Improved monitoring capabilities led to better compliance with regulatory loss indicators and water quality standards.
4. Operational Excellence and Customer Service
Enhanced operational control and security enabled more agile problem identification and resolution, directly improving customer service delivery.
5. Fraud Reduction and Meter Reliability
Smart meter integration and real-time monitoring significantly reduced fraud incidents and meter reading failures. This improvement directly impacted revenue protection.
6. Scalable Foundation for Growth
TagoIO's flexible architecture established a scalable foundation for expanding IoT implementation across all Iguá operations.
