Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | MARCH 2022 | 37 Analysis Smart thinking about water networks Isle Utilities' Chris Thomas outlines the roles of technology and data in building successful wastewater asset management strategies and the creation of 'smart' networks. A t the recent Utility Week Innovate WWT Wastewater 2022 Conference, Isle Utilities head of enterprise and innovation, Chris Thomas gave a fascinat- ing presentation on the digitalisation of networks to achieve pre-emptive asset main- tenance and help prevent the need for major intervention. He highlighted the fact that wastewater lagged behind other sectors – such as gas and electricity – in implement- ing new digital systems. He said that this a orded the water indus- try some unique insights into the dos and don'ts of the digitalisation process. One of his main observations was that, far from being chieƒ y a technical challenge, the smooth cre- ation of "smart" networks revolves around organisational improvements. Smart network building blocks Breaking down the creation of a smart waste- water network into ‡ ve simpli‡ ed compo- nents – applications, communications, sensors, data, and the business process – Thomas said the latter two were the most sig- ni‡ cant hurdles. He explained that, from a technical stand- point, a wealth of application and sensor so‰ ware and technology was readily avail- able to tee up smart networks, while options such as 5G networks and radio spectrum to communicate are already widespread. Yet in terms of the business processes behind creating smart networks, he outlined four phases of analytical maturity – describe, diagnose, predict, and prescribe – and emphasised the importance of spending more time focusing on the o‰ en neglected early phases. Thomas explained that when deploying solutions at scale "being dependable is more important than being clever" – meaning that rather than kickstarting a project based on prediction, spending time to describe and diagnose challenges as a foundation for pro- ject work was paramount. He summarised that at the heart of e ec- tive digitalisation was "good operational reporting and integration with business pro- cesses before clever predictive activity" – or doing "the boring stu " at scale bolstered by robust data architecture. This spans reliable Key Peformance Indicator reporting, automated checks, bal- ances and processes across a business and detailed performance management of data and people. Harnessing data's invisible in uence Thomas also outlined the need for invest- ment in management practice in order to experience the bene‡ ts of data's "powerful, invisible, inƒ uence" – and that more needed to be done to value data as an asset. He explained that poor data architecture, while o‰ en unseen, ultimately leads to poor business e' ciency and lack of adoption of insights. "If we put rubbish in, we get rub- bish out," Thomas said. Therefore, designing smart wastewater network systems where the impact of data is felt both positively and negatively is a crucial step. "We need to get the bene‡ t of that if they're successful, but also need to feel the pain if they're not working so change and innovation can happen," he said. Stuart Stone, editor, Utility Week Innovate Utility Week Live 2022 See thi s content brought to life at Utility Week Live, 17-18 May 2022, NEC Birmingham New approaches to wastewater treatment and resource recovery is one of the frontline challenges at the heart of Utility Week Live 2022's live content programme. View the challenges and be alerted for tickets to the industry's most eagerly awaited reunion at utilityweeklive.co.uk

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