Georgia City uses AI tech to target water line repairs

A utility company in Georgia was responsible for supplying more than 15 billion gallons of clean water each year to local residents and businesses through a vast network of 1,300 miles of pipe. However, that infrastructure is aging, leaving thousands of assets vulnerable to failure and water loss.

Georgia has long taken a proactive approach to non revenue water, requiring annual water loss audits since 2012. By 2023, the audit showed water losses in the network could be as high as 27%. So the challenge wasn’t awareness but knowing exactly where the leaks were.

To pinpoint the problem, the company turned to Oldcastle Infrastructure, a CRH company, which identified CivilSense™ real time leak detection as an ideal solution. CivilSense™ is the only AI powered water asset management solution to combine predictive risk assessment with targeted real-time leak detection.

The customer decided to deploy the real-time leak detection capability on a 20-mile high-priority section of the network – where a major line break would cause significant economic and civic disruption.

CivilSense™ field experts deployed 202 acoustic sensors and created a total of 650 investigation sessions, capturing acoustic data that was fed into the platform’s AI for analysis.

The AI, powered by FIDO Tech, performed a comparative analysis, before generating ‘Waypoints’ (indicated potential leaks) that led to the identification of leak locations and guided targeted repairs.

The results were immediate and measurable.

CivilSense™ correctly determined 19 previously undetected leaks across distribution mains, meter valves and vaults, curb stops and hydrants – the largest of which was losing around 10 gallons per minute. In total, the leaks accounted for approximately 49.2 million gallons of lost water every year, representing a revenue loss of between $98K and $239k each year.

By uncovering these losses and enabling targeted repairs, CivilSense™ is helping the city to address aging infrastructure issues, strengthen water supply resilience and improve its financial performance.