A Wiltshire town is at the centre of an innovative wastewater project that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI).
A smart waste system is being developed in the Westbury catchment as part of a trial which, if successful, could transform the way Wessex Water manages its sewerage network and water recycling centre assets.
The project involves the latest equipment and technologies to help improve understanding of the wastewater system, trialling new monitors, sensors, controls and products.
A ‘digital twin’ of Westbury’s water recycling centre, formerly known as sewage treatment works, will be created using AI and smart logic to provide early warning signs when expected behaviours will impact performance.
Wessex Water’s Project Manager Richard Holloway explained: “The concept of a smart waste system is to enable better data-driven decisions by moving away from a reactive way of working to a model that turns data into information, information into insight and insight into action – all before the customer and environment are impacted.”
The Westbury catchment was chosen because it has a good mixture of network and treatment processes, with the overall aims being to improve customer service and environmental performance while also increasing automation and reducing operating costs.
Ed Williatts, Asset Reliability Engineer at Wessex Water, said: “We can quickly test a number of different technologies, which will be valuable to see how well they work, and we can also have the opportunity to test the different methods and technologies in direct comparison with each other.
“At the end we should have a good idea of where and when different technologies should be used, any limitations and our order of preference.”
Related articles: New partnership aims to solve water scarcity with artificial intelligence
