By Kris Polly

Used wisely, AI stands to benefit many industries— the municipal water industry among them. AI and computer vision can vastly accelerate laborious tasks such as camera-based pipeline inspections and the manual coding of defects. In our cover story this month, we look at the partnership between PipeLogix, which provides collection software for underground pipeline inspections and reports, and PipeAId, which is applying AI to the process. PipeLogix President and CEO Jeremy Wagner and PipeAId CEO Andrew Stauffer tell us more.

Next, we speak with Jason Benson, the executive director of the Metro Flood Division Authority, which is carrying out a major flood management project around the Fargo, North Dakota, and Moorhead, Minnesota, metro area. Involving miles-long embankments and flood channels and requiring the construction of new bridges and other structures, the project is impressive and significant.

Then, we speak with Corey Jones, the general manager of the Northern Trinity Groundwater Conservation District, which covers Texas’s Tarrant County, home to the city of Fort Worth. To address falling groundwater levels and ensure sustainable use in the future, the district regulates new and existing wells and gathers information about the local aquifer.

After that, we check in with Melissa Meeker, an experienced water leader who now heads up The Water Tower, a global innovation hub based outside Atlanta, Georgia. Complete with classrooms, event spaces, laboratories, demonstration areas, and training centers, it is fully equipped to drive innovation and train the water workforce of the future.

Last, we look at two new technologies. Water management software company Turing has created a comprehensive, AI-driven digital platform called Turing Optimal Performance Clear that can handle asset performance, operations and maintenance, and more, all with the aim of increasing efficiency, improving system oversight and regulatory compliance, and protecting human health. Lucent Water, meanwhile, has taken an advanced chlorine sensor developed for the navy and adapted it for use in municipal water applications.

Our industry is highly aware of the need for continuous technological innovation. With the advances being made by private companies, partnerships, and innovation and research hubs, we are positioning ourselves well for the challenges of the future.

Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Municipal Water Leader magazine and the president and CEO of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He can be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.