Artificial Intelligence Enters the City Sewerage System. The Effects Will Be Surprising

• "Predictive Maintenance" - a tool based on artificial intelligence is already helping to solve problems with the water and sewage network in Wrocław.
• By analyzing data, the tool literally shows places in the network that will require repair or maintenance in the near future.
• One of the most important functionalities of the tool is an interactive map showing the risk of failure of a given system element.

- MPWiK in Wrocław manages a water supply network with a length of over 2 thousand km. A thorough renovation of such extensive infrastructure would require almost unlimited financial resources. In the case of budget constraints, it is important to establish priorities when selecting sections requiring rehabilitation. In the face of these challenges , it became necessary to find a tool that would allow for effective modernization planning and achieving the best results with available resources - says Piotr Słomianny, IT director of MPWiK in Wrocław.

The Wrocław-based company, in cooperation with partners: Deloitte and AWS (Amazon Web Services) , has implemented a tool based on artificial intelligence , combining the process of data analysis while simultaneously "understanding" the specifics of critical infrastructure.

One of the most important functionalities of the tool is an interactive damage risk map, which visualizes each infrastructure element, marking them with colors reflecting the level of failure risk.

The user - in this case MPWiK - can select any element, gaining access to information such as estimated repair costs, potential failure costs or projected risk for different periods. The map also offers the possibility of filtering by selected variables and exporting data to formats compatible with other analytical tools. Together with the tool, the Wrocław waterworks also received the possibility of updating data, e.g. in connection with changes in material prices, construction of a new section of waterworks or modernization of infrastructure.

The tool's capabilities do not stop at the question "what can fail?", but allow you to get the answer "why and what can we do about it?", opening up new possibilities in infrastructure management . What's more, the tool allows you to export data yourself.

The key functionality of the "Predictive Maintenance" tool is a comprehensive financial model, allowing for the transformation of technical data into specific business decisions. The model analyzes two main scenarios: planned modernization and unplanned failure repair, taking into account over 50 expense components, such as labor costs, materials (e.g. cables or reconstructed pavement) and land occupation costs. Analysis of different scenarios and their comparison allows for the optimization of budgets and prioritization of investments, maximizing the effectiveness of each invested złoty.