KIOS Smart Water Systems Research Team Wins the 2026 ETEK Engineering Award

Opportunity Details

Dr. Demetrios G. Eliades, Research Assistant Professor, Dr. Stelios Vrachimis, Senior Research Associate, Marios Kyriakou, Senior Software Engineer, and Dr. Kostas Papadopoulos, Research Associate, have received the 2026 Engineering Award from the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ΕΤΕΚ), for the action KIOS4WaterLoss: Digital Technologies for Water Loss Reduction and Water Conservation in Cyprus.

The action, which has been running since April 2025, addresses water scarcity, one of the most serious problems facing Cyprus. Non-revenue water in Cyprus is estimated at approximately 33% of the water entering supply networks, with real losses reaching about 30.5 million m³ per year at an annual cost of roughly €45 million. KIOS4WaterLoss supports the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment’ target of reducing water consumption by 10%, focusing on reducing real losses in the networks of the District Local Government Organizations (DLGOs), improving operational efficiency, and demand reduction.

To address the problem, the team developed integrated systems and Digital Twins for the water supply networks of Limassol and Larnaka. The OCEANOS (Limassol DLGO) and ZENON (Larnaka DLGO) Digital Twins, which funded through Cyprus’s Recovery and Resilience Plan and completed in April 2026, combine data from smart water meters, pressure sensors, historical failure records, and hydraulic models. They are used to monitor and assess hydraulic conditions, to conduct analyses (for example, to reduce losses through pressure control), and to manage failures. Specifically, the Digital Twins integrate data collected from more than 300 pressure sensors and more than 100,000 smart water meters. The systems are currently in operational use at the Limassol and Larnaka DLGOs, while some of their components are already being adopted by the Paphos and Famagusta DLGOs.

During the 2026 water crisis, 15 individual networks in Larnaka were studied, and the proposed pressure reductions were implemented in a controlled manner by Larnaka DLGO, resulting in savings of approximately 650 m³ of water per day and a reduction in consumption of about 5% in the zones where the measures were applied. In Limassol, the network’s pressure zones were redesigned based on hydraulic studies conducted using the Digital Twins.

The action also includes implementation of a Roadmap developed under the ERC project “Water-Futures,” which covers 16 thematic areas. The Roadmap was submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture and informed the development of the national strategy for loss reduction. In collaboration with the Ministry, the team also developed the “Σταγονο-μετρώ” application (www.stagona.cy) and the #Cyprus125 initiative. The initiative aims to provide insight into water consumption and encourage citizens to reduce their water use through small changes to their daily habits, with a goal of 125 liters per person per day.

The team’s work has also received international recognition. The Battle of the Leakage Detection and Isolation Methods (BattLeDIM), a benchmark for the objective comparison of leakage detection algorithms, has been downloaded more than 28,000 times. In 2024, the team received the Water Europe Digital Water Award for creating a digital twin for crisis management.

On behalf of the KIOS smart water systems research team, Dr. Demetris Eliades, Research Assistant Professor, said that “this distinction recognizes many years of work, from research through to field implementation. Our goal was to show that research produced in Cyprus can be turned into operational tools that support DLGO engineers in their everyday tasks, especially at a time when the water crisis leaves no room for waiting.”

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