Water utilities jettison listening sticks and embrace AI

{"text":[[{"start":6.6,"text":"For decades, water utilities used armies of technicians with listening sticks to check for leaks. The practice involves prodding the ground with a long metal rod, pressing an ear to the earpiece at the top, and waiting for the hiss of a leak from the pipes beneath."}],[{"start":21.7,"text":"Now, water companies are turning to AI to improve services. The technology is being deployed to cut leaks, optimise energy use and reduce sewage outflows in a move they hope will improve performance and reduce costs."}],[{"start":35.6,"text":"Leaders in the field include China, Japan and Singapore, according to Asit Biswas, a leading authority on water management who has advised 23 countries on water and the environment. In Singapore, where Biswas is based, the municipal authorities use AI to collect several terabytes of data every day, helping them anticipate and fix leaks and other problems."}],[{"start":58.400000000000006,"text":"Singapore’s National Water Agency appointed a chief information officer more than a decade ago to standardise data collection so it can be used throughout its network. "}],[{"start":67.7,"text":"This enables Singapore to identify the weakest sections of its water, sewerage and drainage pipes, carry out preventive maintenance and identify the 2 per cent of water pipes that the country replaces each year, says Biswas."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":80.85000000000001,"text":"The use of AI has also helped to cut leakage rates in Japan. Tokyo and Osaka, for example, lose only around 3.8 per cent of treated water to the environment, while in Singapore it is around 5 per cent, according to Biswas, adding that AI has enabled many water utilities to significantly reduce staff numbers. "}],[{"start":100.9,"text":"But if several countries have been using sensors, digitalisation, sound monitoring, big data analytics and AI for well over a decade, the water utilities in England and Wales are only now getting up to speed. "}],[{"start":113.65,"text":"“British water companies are still in the Stone Age in terms of digitalisation, sensors, robotics and AI,” says Biswas. “In my view, all the British water utilities are at least a decade behind their counterparts in Singapore and many large Chinese cities. The concept of preventive maintenance is simply alien to the British water utilities’ mindsets.”"}],[{"start":136.55,"text":"The need to reduce leakage is crucial. In England and Wales, about 20 per cent of treated water running through pipes is still lost to the environment, contributing to the need for hosepipe bans last year and creating concerns over potential water shortages. Several British utilities including South East Water, which left tens of thousands of customers without water in recent months, still rely on listening sticks."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":160.55,"text":"Change is afoot. Northumbrian Water, which serves Newcastle, Durham and other parts of the north-east, is using technology developed by a Newcastle-based start-up, Origin Tech, to cut leakage. The company was founded in 2019 by two former oil and gas engineers, John Marsden and Phil Surtees, who developed a way to spot leaks using satellites."}],[{"start":181.85000000000002,"text":"They found that radar signals projected from satellites onto wet ground bounce back at a different amplitude to those that hit dry ground. Land around leaky pipes is also more likely to subside and be heavily overgrown."}],[{"start":195.50000000000003,"text":"By using AI to combine all the information, the technology can spot a leak with 80 per cent accuracy, Origin says. "}],[{"start":202.85000000000002,"text":"Once the leak is detected, Origin is able to repair it without excavating the pipe by injecting a non-toxic substance that immediately forms a seal."}],[{"start":212.45000000000002,"text":"Gregg Herrin, vice-president of water at Bentley Systems, an infrastructure software firm, says that AI is enabling companies to plan maintenance in advance rather than simply react to failures."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":224.05,"text":"“AI gives water utilities the ability to fundamentally de-risk their infrastructure as it provides continuous, automated vigilance that goes beyond the traditional manual and error-prone process,” says Herrin."}],[{"start":236.85000000000002,"text":"Leakage is not the only area where AI can make a difference. Northumbrian Water has installed the technology to forecast when sewers will reach capacity. "}],[{"start":246.05,"text":"It says the new system uses weather forecasting, 750 in-pipe sensors and AI analytics to predict when sewers are nearing overload. It is then able to divert the waste to holding tanks so it can prevent sewage flooding or outflows into rivers and streams. Northumbrian Water estimates that as many as 80 per cent of storm overflows could be prevented using the system."}],[{"start":273,"text":"Likewise Southern Water, which provides water and sewage services in the south-east of England, is rolling out AI to monitor effluent levels in its sewers. It says it has installed 34,000 radar sensors under manholes to monitor the normal inflows so that it can automatically alert staff to take action and prevent effluent and stormwater flooding homes and businesses. So far this has prevented 4,000 cases where sewage would have previously flooded homes in the past year, Southern Water says."}],[{"start":304.75,"text":"The use of AI in water quality monitoring is also a growth area. Yorkshire Water has just started working with Socotec and UnifAI Technology. Samples from rivers will be taken every four weeks for laboratory testing. The intention is that there will be enough data to develop AI models capable of predicting water quality at bathing sites."}],[{"start":326.25,"text":"Faye Cossins, coastal delivery and engagement manager at Yorkshire Water, says the project aims to “significantly reduce the time and cost of bacteria monitoring at 20 inland bathing water sites”. "}],[{"start":338.8,"text":"South East Water declined to comment."}],[{"start":348.35,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1777874333_2162.mp3"}