Water & Wastewater Treatment

Optimise the asset and the process, digitally The Talk: Opinion BY PAUL HAGGERTY, VICE PRESIDENT, CAPGEMINI – HEAD OF UK WATER SECTOR T he UK water industry is on the precipice of major change. This traditionally conservative sector is fast becoming a place of technological innovation and somewhere that ground- breaking, world-class careers in the application of the latest digital technology can be forged. In December, the UK Water Partner- ship's white paper Digital Water described a "digital revolution sweeping through the global water economy, impacting on every aspect of water, from management of sourc- es, treatment technology and efficiency, consumption and customer engagement." Given the daunting water security and resilience challenges facing the planet, caused by population growth, increasing demand, declining resources, pollution and the effects of climate change, it could be said that nothing short of a 'revolution- ary' response will suffice. In the UK, Ofwat is seeking significant performance improvements and efficien- cies, alongside reduced costs for custom- ers. But the regulator is playing its part in the technology revolution too, confirm- ing just before Christmas a £200 million innovation competition to encourage "companies to collaborate with each other and with other companies in their supply chains". What are the game-changing technologies? There is a broad spectrum of opportunities to apply game-changing technologies to meet these challenges head on. Sensor technology continues to advance, offering the potential for acquisition of huge quantities of data from a more distributed and diverse range of sources. Developments in connectivity provide the means to move and synthesise this vast amount of real-time data, while advances in data storage, analytics and processing power create the means of generating enhanced actionable insights, enabling improved decision making. Artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics are being combined to re- water – are gaining significant advantages in intelligent automation. Baker Hughes GE (BHGE), an organisa- tion which manufactures equipment for the oil and gas industry, has exploited an industrial internet platform that gathers data from all its manufacturing devices and machines to provide operators and engineers with a new level of insight and the ability to adjust production processes at a moment's notice. This digital capability enables a step change in performance in asset avail- ability, reduction in asset failure rates, condition-based maintenance schedules and operational optimisation of key production equipment. The principals adopted by BHGE of intelligent automa- tion and optimisation of the "asset AND the process" are transferable to water and wastewater treatment where production processes consume energy, chemicals and resources against a backdrop of environ- mental compliance standards and asset availability and efficiency. Finding the right skills combination A key challenge, but also a big opportu- nity for the water industry, is finding and attracting the brightest and best digital professionals to showcase their skills in the UK, especially given the global impact their expertise can deliver. But even more mouth-watering will be the deployment of the combination of both new digital and traditional water in- dustry engineering skills and experience, for which the UK is renowned worldwide. Now that will be truly transformational. configure business processes and improve performance and efficiency. Digital technology and techniques are developing entirely new value-adding products and services too. For example, the Twenty65 Programme, a consortium of six British Universities, is developing swarming autonomous robots, perma- nently stationed in pipes, to replace human intervention in the proactive monitoring and restoration of buried infrastructure. With an estimated three billion litres lost to leaks in the UK every day, it's easy to see how a constantly updated diagno- sis of pipework condition, the likelihood of leaks and their precise location, would deliver transformational benefits and efficiencies. Delivering intelligent automation at scale The main challenge for the UK water and wastewater businesses is to drive the tran- sition to intelligent automation at scale. In our latest research, Intelligent Automation in Energy and Utilities: The next digital wave we surveyed more than 500 business leaders in organisations at various stages of experimentation or implementation of intelligent automation solutions. Our research reveals that, although AI-driven transformation in core techni- cal operations has increased since 2017, many organisations have yet to scale-up their initiatives for real value. Industries such as automotive, oil and gas, aerospace and mining – asset and operational intensive entities, similar to 10 | MAY 2020 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk

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