Advent of Big Data technology in environment and water management sector

Abstract

Big Data is on the verge of explosion in terms of popularity in recent decades, and such a trend is not going to stop anytime soon as it has a lot of room to grow. The increased integration of IoT devices, faster access to the Internet, and advances in the computational power of mainstream devices have drastically increased the feasibility for the same while making it more practical to implement gradually. The reach and applicability of Big Data are diversified, yet widespread, and one of its key implementations falls under the environment arena. In an attempt to provide novel Big Data allied solutions in one or more aspects of water management sector, a substantial amount of research work has been carried out in recent years. This paper discusses how Big Data influences the abovementioned arenas and the extent of importance that it has. Several aspects of this field are uprooted, are discussed, and have seen real-world applicability. Various presently deployed applications, in the sub-fields of environment and water management are studied, and given an inclusive review. Finally, the current challenges and limitations pertaining to Big Data are discussed and proper (in theory) solutions are proposed which seem to have promising results. The future scope of Big Data is also considered with its viability taken into consideration. Several assessments and opinions are then cited.

Keywords: Big Data; Environment; Water management.