Digitising Water, Protecting Life: A Conversation with Paloma Akerman, Water Cycle Digitalisation Solutions Lead at Autodesk, Europe

From catastrophic floods to creeping droughts, climate change is disrupting the water cycle in ways that impact real people every day. In this interview, we speak with Paloma Akerman, Water Cycle Digitalisation Solutions Lead at Autodesk for Europe, about how digital innovation can help build resilience – and why the human cost of inaction is simply too high. 

Could you please briefly introduce yourself and your missions?

With pleasure! I’m an engineer specializing in hydraulics and energy. Based in Spain, I work on flagship projects both nationally and internationally, collaborating with leading companies and dedicating more than a decade to training engineers in the use of advanced modeling tools for the digitization of the water cycle. 

How would you describe the current situation in this sector? 

Water is a common good that is unfortunately becoming increasingly scarce worldwide, with droughts now occurring regularly in Europe as well. Another sign of the disruption of the water cycle caused by climate change is flooding, such as the severe event that struck the city of Valencia a year ago. These kinds of disasters highlight the need to accelerate the adoption of digital solutions that optimize operations, save resources, and improve service quality in the context of increasing climatic and regulatory pressure. Public and private actors in the water sector are at a crucial turning point, because building a more efficient, sustainable, and resilient system requires significant investment. Spain’s PERTE (Proyectos Estratégicos para la Recuperación y la Transformación Económica) for the Digitalisation of the Water Cycle is a pioneering initiative aimed at modernizing water management in both large cities and small rural municipalities through technology-driven, coordinated public policy. It combines private and public investment, financed in part through the European Next Generation Fund, for a total of 225 million euros. It also enables collaboration across levels of government and promotes performance-based incentives. This program offers a comprehensive model for digital transformation that goes beyond infrastructure to include cultural change, institutional capacity-building, and territorial cohesion 

Do you feel there is also growing awareness in other European countries?

Definitely. The current state of the industry is ideal for scaling up digitalization: there is a high level of awareness, a clear objective, and strong motivation. Technological development is also well advanced, with solutions such as those from Autodesk Water that allow companies to access decision-support systems at a relatively low cost. One of the main challenges, however, is that the public sector is still not sufficiently aware that these solutions exist. We can digitize water treatment plants with Revit, drinking water supply networks with InfoWorks WS Pro, and stormwater networks with InfoWorks ICM. Digital twins are extremely valuable for helping the various stakeholders of a community understand what will happen when water suddenly arrives—and even more importantly, how to act and how to prevent such situations. We need to simulate worst-case scenarios to design “escape routes” for water. The cost of not acting will be far higher than the cost of a potential catastrophe, when everything must be rebuilt and people risk losing their lives or abandoning the area. 

Could you give some examples of projects you work on?

Oh, it is hard to choose. Every situation is similar yet unique: the water system of Berlin differs from that of Bilbao and Bilbao is not San Sebastián, that has the additional challenge of managing both sea and river water. We also work with the Madrid underground network to improve flood forecasting, for example. And we partner with private companies—such as the French groups Veolia and Suez—supporting Barcelona in modernizing its water supply system.  

What role will artificial intelligence play?

Artificial intelligence will help us collect and use data more easily, but the greatest challenge I see ahead is our collective ability to work together more effectively, between public and private actors as well as between municipalities located upstream and downstream.