Smart Water Experience
Field experience to transform water management
Smart Water Institute draws on more than 25 years of international experience gained by Anibal Arturo Parra Quispe in water utilities, operation and maintenance, project management and automation. His career connects management decisions with engineering and the daily operation of plants and networks.
His experience covers the project lifecycle: diagnosis, investment planning, engineering, procurement, installation, testing, commissioning and operation. This knowledge helps identify real needs, define requirements and support digital transformation from strategy to implementation in the field.
More than 25 years of experience across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), the United States, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, in water utilities, engineering and project management.
Experience in SCADA, automation and instrumentation, PLC/RTU, CMMS/EAM (IBM Maximo and SAP PM), Smart Metering, AMI/MDM, GIS and industrial communications.
Master’s in Automation and Instrumentation; Master’s in International Project Management; MBA; and two specialisations completed in the United States: Electronics Engineering Technology and Instrumentation & Control Engineering.
Experience in water plants and utilities: SEDAPAL’s La Atarjea drinking water treatment plant in Lima, Peru (24 m³/s); EASCN-E.P. in Angola; four NTMWD plants in Wylie, Texas, United States; EPS Grau in Peru; National Water Company (NWC) in Saudi Arabia; and the Ghadames system within Libya’s Great Man-Made River Project programme.
Selected experience
Responsibilities that underpin our approach
His career brings together three complementary perspectives: operating the service, managing investments and delivering systems that work in the field. This combination helps assess technologies, anticipate integration challenges and focus projects on verifiable operational results.
Management, investments and enterprise systems
As Development and Research Manager and Head of Information and Communications Technology, he worked on investment priorities, asset management, commercial systems, SCADA and smart metering. He led the implementation of SAP PM for approximately 1,000 pumping stations.
Automation and maintenance of a critical plant
He led the treatment plant automation project, from planning and engineering to testing and commissioning. He subsequently managed electrical maintenance, instrumentation, control and SCADA, and managed IBM Maximo for the facility’s equipment and assets.
Integrated management of a water supply system
As Team Leader, he led the World Bank-funded project for integrated utility management and institutional strengthening at EASCN-E.P., improving the N’Dalatando water supply system. He managed operation, maintenance and commercial activities under a contract with payments linked to performance indicators. He promoted cost recovery, meter installation, billing, collection and business planning improvements. He coordinated compliance with World Bank requirements and knowledge transfer to local staff to strengthen the utility’s autonomy and sustainability.
Modernisation of treatment plants
As Instrumentation, Control and SCADA Supervisor, he participated in the phased modernisation of four Wylie drinking water treatment plants operated by North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD). He supervised the installation and integration of instrumentation, electromechanical equipment, control panels, PLC, HMI, fibre-optic networks and radio links. He coordinated engineering reviews, contractors and interfaces, factory and field testing, commissioning and technical acceptance, checking quality, safety and integration of the new systems into the renewed infrastructure.
Networks, metering and digital water
As Supervisor for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), he supervised EPS Grau’s leakage and non-revenue water reduction projects and optimisation of the Piura water supply network. The scope included engineering, instrumentation, PLC/RTU, flow meters, district metered area monitoring, Smart SCADA and Smart Metering. Hydraulic modelling incorporated artificial intelligence, Machine Learning and neural networks to analyse patterns and optimise operation. He oversaw installation, testing, training and operation. Together, the projects achieved a 15% reduction in non-revenue water (NRW).
Governance of a project portfolio
As North Cluster Project Manager, he led a multidisciplinary technical team for National Water Company (NWC) in Saudi Arabia. He managed the design and prioritisation cycle of a portfolio of 190 drinking water and wastewater projects, coordinating engineering, deliverables, technical reviews and approval processes. He coordinated specialists and communication with NWC management to support decisions and resolve interfaces. His responsibilities included planning, monitoring and coordination of large-scale projects aligned with Saudi Vision 2030.
Control and communications for a water megaproject
As EPC Project Director at Telvent / Schneider Electric, he led the Permanent Control and Communications System for the Ghadames Water Supply System, Phase IV, within Libya’s Great Man-Made River Project. His €25 million project included approximately 800 km of fibre optics, PLC, SCADA, instrumentation and communications for transmission pipelines and pumping stations. He led planning, engineering, procurement, supply, installation, testing, commissioning, operation, maintenance and training.
From engineering to delivery
Experience in project delivery and business management
As Project Director at Telvent and Schneider Electric, he managed a control and communications project for the Ghadames water system in Libya from Spain. His responsibilities covered engineering, supply, installation, testing, commissioning and training.
He also founded and led APR CONTROL for 15 years, developing automation, telemetry and instrumentation projects and solutions. This business experience provides a direct understanding of technology integration, suppliers and support after handover.
Experience in support of innovation
From plant knowledge to applied research
Diagnosis, investment prioritisation, requirements definition, and coordination of teams and contracts.
Knowledge of plants and networks, process constraints, maintenance, data quality and service indicators.
Integration of PLC, SCADA, telemetry, CMMS and smart metering; testing, commissioning and knowledge transfer to plant staff.
In R&D projects, Smart Water Institute will contribute field diagnosis, operational requirements, coordination and solution integration. Universities and research teams can develop models, algorithms and software; water utilities will contribute process knowledge and, subject to the relevant authorisations, data and facilities to validate a pilot. Collaboration will be defined for each project.
The experience described belongs to Anibal Arturo Parra Quispe’s professional career in the organisations named; it is not attributed to Smart Water Institute contracts.