Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | JUNE 2019 | 15 approach that can find synergies between issues like leakage, bursts and water qual- ity and seek to address them as a group, pointing out that companies simply do not have the resources to tackle each chal- lenge individually. Data quality Successful analytics relies on good infor- mation, though, and there were concerns that the industry is currently drowning in data, with the vast majority of it provid- ing little in the way of insight. The level of data is set to increase hugely in the coming years, too, with a ra• of sensors being installed and, unless greater efforts are made to separate good data from bad, that could prove counterproductive. "Probably 99 per cent of the data col- lected may as well be in the bin because we don't use it," an attendee said. "It's about data quality as well – if you put garbage in, you get garbage out. We have a lot of that in the water industry. Some companies have made a lot of progress on that, but the first piece we have to do is look at what data we need to be collect- ing, from CEOs down to the guys on the ground." Smart asset management systems promise to help separate the wheat from the chaff, automatically si•ing data to SPONSORED BY ROUND TABLE PARTICIPANTS Elaine Algaard, water director, Northumbrian Water Michael Baker, tactical planning manager, Northumbrian Water Nicola Evans, head of asset strategy, Bristol Water Oliver Grievson, deputy chairman, SWIG Jeremy Heath, innovation manager, SES Water Mark Kaney, director of asset management, Black & Veatch Cigolene Nguyen, head of planning and resilience, Southern Water Derek Procter, head of global sales, Inflowmatix Gordon Reid, wastewater strategy manager, Scottish Water Kyle Robins, head of wholesale strategic investment, Thames Water Christopher Steele, head of information management & analytics, Black & Veatch Neil Wilson, director of asset management and investment, Wessex Water determine patterns and anomalies and then flag up issues as required, and participants said such technologies will be required to meet the demands of the future. While the longest-serving members of staff might already be able to anticipate problems through intuition or listening to an asset, such insights are the result of extensive experience and – particularly in light of the industry's skills gap – will be extremely hard to replicate in the years to come. For many staff, though, there is under- standable hesitancy to embrace automa- tion as it carries an implied threat to jobs. It was noted that the transition to smart is viewed as "difficult and uncomfortable", and that the pace of development is such that, by the time people are comfortable with any aspect of it, it tends to have transformed again. Attendees emphasised that smart sys- tems require human intervention to both guide and interpret the analysis, and that their introduction should mean a change in staff roles rather than a reduction in head count. Part of the answer, they said, is to show staff how they can benefit from embracing smart technology: if it allows them to carry out the most boring parts of the job more quickly and easily, that frees them up to do the interesting and more creative parts, which brings added value to the company. "We need to stop saying it's going to be hard," one said. "We should be saying it's going to be fun." In addition, it was argued that while humans assessing data might ultimately come to the same decision as the smart technology, they will frequently take far longer to do so. Similarly, several attend- ees highlighted the need for the industry to change its mindset and adopt a more agile, fast-thinking approach. "To achieve what we need to achieve for our customers, we have to embrace automation and retrain," a participant said. "We need to free our minds." Workforce challenges There was also a question raised about whether the industry has the right people in place to achieve its aims, with one attendee saying the required balance of analytical and creative qualities is lacking at present. It was also suggested that adopting a more forward-thinking, technological approach could help to bring in the required talent, with digital- first youngsters likely to be attracted by the idea of utilising AI to maximise their potential. Some companies have already taken strides towards smart technology and are seeing positive results. One attendee said their company was now in a position to make predictions, although not always with confidence, highlighting the vast number of false alarms that occurred during their earliest experiments. As they gained more experience, though, the number of false alarms has fallen to a level where the technology is starting to deliver useful insights. Even so, there were doubts as to whether the industry is ready to step up as a whole. Challenges from Ofwat, not least the 15 per cent leakage reduction target for AMP7, are forcing companies to reassess the way they do things and ex- plore new ideas, but attendees noted that there has not been universal enthusiasm. "We have the resources and we have the technology," one said. "What we're re- fusing to do is to use everything we have. A regulator should never push you. In any other industry, the companies are pushing too hard and the regulator is pulling you back." "To achieve what we need to achieve for our customers, we have to embrace automation and retrain… we need to free our minds."