Unleashing Blockchain's Potential
K. THIAGARAJAN, Benazir F. BEGUM, G. SUPRAJA, K. Selvi, Dileep Pulugu, P. Malathi · 2025
This chapter focuses on a blockchain solution for water supply chain management. It presents the WaterChain Framework that integrates IoT sensors, smart contracts and stakeholder governance to redefine water management. The WaterChain Framework is a blockchain-enabled approach that seeks to revolutionize water supply chains through increased transparency, traceability and decentralized efficiency. The chapter describes the four-phase approach of the framework, describing its design, implementation and evaluation for a simulated urban water supply chain. The WaterChain Framework was tested for more than 30 days in a virtual simulation environment mimicking a 500,000-inhabitant city. Smart contracts were invoked and executed in autonomous mode, and stakeholder nodes verified transactions through proof-of-authority (PoA). Energy consumption by the blockchain network was low, with PoA using much less energy than proof-of-work, which is in line with sustainability objectives.