WC137 JulyAug 2024 - Magazine - Page 16
INNOVATION
One mid–sized Canadian utility we met with had spent decades
trying to move their drinking water, wastewater, and compliance
sampling data out of physical binders and into the digital sphere.
The resulting patchwork of new digital systems was difficult to
navigate, and employees still found themselves regularly consulting
physical log sheets stored at a treatment facility, which made life
particularly difficult whenever a regulator would come knocking.
At the largest utilities, the problem often comes with age:
when cities rely on infrastructure that is centuries old, critical
information involving that infrastructure often gets buried under decades of paperwork. But even younger and smaller water
systems these days are struggling with poor recordkeeping. One
reason is the water industry as a whole has been slow to adopt
effective digital tools for records.
Deprived of a single digital recordkeeping system, one compliance manager at a small California utility we spoke to found
herself creating multiple massive 1,000-plus row spreadsheets
just to manage all of the applications, schedules, and permits her
utility was legally required to track.
How technology can help
So, what are utilities to do? For a start, we need to recognize
that good recordkeeping is not just a nice to have, it’s a necessity if utilities are to effectively manage the risk on any number
of urgent priorities like PFAS and LSL replacement, as well as
more forward-thinking initiatives like system renewal and DPR.
Even protection of revenue and ability to increase rates is a direct
product of this effective management of records and risk.
Second, we need to understand that there is no silver bullet.
Staying atop the mountain of data and records a utility uses
in its day-to-day is a process and a commitment operators and
managers must make to themselves and their organizations, and
not something that can be solved with a single software tool. At
the same time, there is a whole suite of technologies water utilities are leaving on the table, each of which can make a significant dent in the problem.
Artificial intelligence and ChatGPT-enabled search tools
We already use algorithms and machine learning in our daily
lives, but recent breakthroughs in large language models (LLMs)
like ChatGPT have made it easier than ever for non-specialists
to take advantage of them in their work.
The ability to query enormous datasets with human language
inputs and receive text responses makes LLMs one of the most
promising tools in the battle against bad recordkeeping, allowing
utility workers to retrieve sampling, customer, and operational
data and generate regulatory reports with a single keystroke.
Data management systems promoting a single source of truth
The number one problem created by poor recordkeeping practices is unreliable data and a general feeling that what you see isn’t
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WATER C AN ADA • JULY/AUGUS T 2024
what you get. How do you know what you have is accurate and
up to date in a system with numerous duplicates and redundant
copies of everything?
When working with clients, we’ve found that the best way to
tackle this is by creating a single source of truth—a single doorway where every data point can be double checked and operators
can go to for accurate information with confidence.
Having a single source of truth can remove a huge layer of
stress from the day-to-day work of utility management, especially when it comes to unavoidable and repetitive tasks like staying
on top of environmental sampling and monitoring. Instead of
feeling like an endless game of catch up, submitting monthly reports and performing calculations in this way become a reliable
and repeatable process that improves with time.
Denver Water came up with a simple and practical solution to their LSL recordkeeping problem: create a publicly-accessible mapping tool.
GIS-based systems and websites
Returning to our original LSL example: last year EPA administrators singled out Denver Water as a model for LSL replacement, particularly for how they used information systems to
overcome gaps in their records.
In addition to putting boots on the ground, Denver Water
came up with a simple and practical solution to their LSL recordkeeping problem: create a publicly-accessible mapping tool
that anyone—homeowner or employee alike—could use to track
or report the location of lead service lines.
It’s an example of how openness and transparency combined
with practical technological interventions can help cut through
the noise of bad data while promoting community participation
in the process.
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
