*2.1. Overview on Smart Water Systems*

The first paper of the Special Issue offered the opportunity to rethink the framework of smart water systems. The design and construction of such smart water systems are still not standardized enough for massive applications, and there is a lack of consensus on the overall transformative framework.

Some authors identified from their comprehensive literature review on smart water techniques the lack of a general architecture and a systematic framework to successfully guide real-world deployment of smart water systems [4]. To fill this gap, they suggested a novel approach consisting of five layers: (i) instrument layer, (ii) property layer, (iii) function layer, (iv) benefit layer, and (v) application layer, including two newly-defined metrics, i.e., smartness and cyber wellness. Therewith, the aim of the authors was to stimulate the implementation of smart water systems in practice as a joint work of academia, industry and government.
