Two Cities Share How AI Is Improving Their Water Utilities

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers government utilities a transformative way to improve public services, update outdated processes, and centralize data. In particular, water utilities can use AI to make timely repairs and adjustments that are less inconvenient for citizens.

Public-private partnerships are one way of enabling such AI modernization within water suppliers. Cities like Tucson, Arizona and Newark, New Jersey are leading by example.

Tucson

Tucson partnered with VODA.ai in August 2020 to integrate AI technology into its water infrastructure systems. Before using AI technology as a tool, the city relied on burst pipes and human judgment to advance maintenance projects. In a press release announcing the partnership, Interim Deputy City Administrator and former Tucson Water Director Tim Thomure stated that prior to the partnership, there was limited data available to make costly maintenance decisions. Thomure believes that VODA.ai will help save water and money by allowing Tucson Water to make better informed decisions.

Tucson Water interim director John Kmiec said human experience previously helped determine where to spend funds on capital improvement projects (CIP). He described the potential for error and subjectivity with this method. For example, two people may have different opinions about the status of a pipeline, but whoever leads funding can result in one project being preferred over another. Kmiec believes that linking human experiences with AI technology will help the city decide with greater confidence which replacements need to be made.

VODA.ai was selected through a pilot study conducted to determine which AI company would be best placed to help Tucson with more proactive infrastructure planning, Kmiec said. For this study, Tucson Water asked employees what they thought might be a hierarchy of critical pipeline replacements. Each hierarchy reflected an employee’s personal knowledge of the history of the burst pipes and the problems they encountered. The team also gathered information about burst pipes from its asset management system.

In short, the AI ​​program has been able to predict pipeline failures better than its human counterparts, showing that the technology can help steer Tucson Water in the right direction.

“The endgame is to be able to use project dollars more effectively on capital improvements,” said Kmiec.

The use of AI can ultimately benefit the Tuscon community by ensuring that Tuscon Water can schedule repairs. Kmiec said that reactive approaches to infrastructure outages tend to be grossly disruptive to the community and affect traffic patterns that affect people’s daily schedules. In contrast, a more preventive strategy can schedule pipeline replacements before breaks with adequate funding to make the process as smooth and transparent as possible.

Tucson Water continues to modernize its systems with technology, with an asset management system update and large solar projects in the works.

“We want to be as sustainable and resilient as possible in the future,” said Kmiec.

While it is too early in the process to see data on cost savings from VODA.ai, Kmiec stated the department is confident it is getting the right points.

Newark

According to Tiffany Stewart, assistant director of the utility, Newark Water and Sewer introduced AI to make more informed decisions and take a more proactive approach to improving water infrastructure.

The department uses two artificial intelligence systems for unique purposes. The first, Fontus Blue, is used to collect and monitor data to predict the water treatment and quality adjustments needed. After interviewing several companies, the department finally decided on Fontus Blue in order to be able to identify problems preventively.

The second system is a compliance program developed by Newark to ensure legal requirements are met by organizing the required reports and the people responsible for filing them. With this tool, the department has a centralized management system, making it easier for the department to comply with all state and federal regulations.

As Stewart pointed out, the regulatory process is expensive and requires a lot of reporting. As a result, the team was extremely receptive to this new technology. She pointed out the benefits of the program to the parties responsible for entering information. For example, if a chemist in the laboratory is responsible for reporting pH levels, they can go into the tool and click a link that will take them straight to the associated regulation. The tool also benefits management by making information about the chemical treatment processes of the system easily accessible. This information enables executive-level employees to have more productive conversations with the environmental protection department.

The technology also increases transparency with the community. Stewart said people sometimes call the sewage plant directly with questions after receiving a notification in the mail. While the software platform’s data is not publicly available, the repository staff can understand what is happening in a system on a particular day while answering questions.

In recent years, transparency with the community has been an integral part of Mayor Ras Baraka’s efforts to improve the city’s infrastructure and technology. According to Stewart, the city under Baraka’s administration has invested over $ 170 million in infrastructure improvements and technology. The administration has highlighted the value of water as a key resource.

“He went out of his way to invest in this asset and to improve and protect that asset, so having this piece of technology was extremely helpful,” said Stewart.

The department also plans to expand the use of AI with additional data collection at the Newark Watershed. This data is fed into the Fontus Blue software, which ultimately improves predictability. Newark’s 37,000 acres of woodland protect the city’s watershed with five reservoirs in the area.

According to Stewart, the department is now installing equipment that will monitor the water quality in each of the reservoirs and throughout the watershed itself for continuous, real-time information on water quality. The system allows the team to make decisions about water quality adjustments any day.

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