5/3/2023

May 4, 2023

Data Rich and Now

Insight Rich —
How Digital Platforms
Are Helping Utilities
Solve Water
FREE AWWA WEBINAR, PRESENTED BY XYLEM

Products or Services Disclaimer

The mention of specific products or services in this webinar

does not represent AWWA endorsement, nor do the opinions
expressed in it necessarily reflect the views of AWWA.

AWWA does not endorse or approve products or services.

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Speakers

David Overfield Andrew Swirsky Matthew Thomas

Manager of Technical Strategic Account Business Development
Solutions Manager Manager

Agenda

1. Water Utility Challenges – Matthew Thomas

2. Targeted Solutions to Address Challenges – David Overfield
Hot Springs, AR FlexNet AMI Case Study
3. Digital Platform to Solve Broader Challenges – Andrew Swirsky
Nashville, TN Water Network Optimization Case Study
4. Conclusion – Matthew Thomas
5. Question & Answer – All

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Water Utility
Challenges 1
Aging Infrastructure

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Funding Obstacles

Argument for Increased Funding

Utility Average Texas Bill

Electricity $132

Gas $111

Cable & Internet $114

Water $45

Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Sales, Revenue, and Average Price, 2021;
Inspirecleanenergy.com; DoxoInsights, U.S. Cable & Internet Market Size and Household Spending Report
2022

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Climate Change

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Cost of Climate Change

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Changing The Narrative

➢ Focus on systemically excluded communities

➢ Invest in sustainable water solutions across infrastructure areas

➢ Invest in systems that can connect the dots

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Targeted Solutions to
Address Challenges
Hot Springs Case Study 2
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Project Location

Hot Springs, AR
• Service Population 68,000
• 92,800 acres (145 mi2)
• ~900 miles of potable water mains
• Sensus AMI/FlexNet

System Status
• Large area for population size
• Lots of variation of terrain, pipe ages,
materials, etc..
• Strong conservation leanings
• Unknown NRW (47%)

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Xylem Vue – Non-Revenue Water – FlexNet

Monitor and Expand vDMA Design Analysis

Monitor revised NRW in each vDMA. The water system is analyzed and
Redeploy leak detection equipment divided into existing and future
to next highest NRW area. vDMAs. This informs what
additional metering or data is
needed.

6 WATER
SYSTEM
1

Leak Repair
After several days of confirmed
leak noise, deploy field crews to
find and address all leaks in the
vDMA
Action
2 Meter Install
5 Field deployment and
initialization of meters to
create the vDMAs
4 3
Leak Detection Analysis results used to Data Connect
build baseline NRW per
Based on the NRW results, target the highest vDMA’s vDMA
& Dashboards
for leak detection using Permalog+ and deploy a grid. Connect data sources to vDMA
dashboards
Implementation

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DMA vs vDMA

Treatment
plant
1. Wholesale flow
Traditional DMAs - have a single flow meter meter

for each DMA to simplify the calculation of the

Local Service
synchronous water balance. However, most Reservoir
hydraulic networks are too complex for a 2. Flow meters at Distribution
single point of metering. vDMAs
boundaries
pipes

Virtual DMAs – utilize multiple flow meters +

AMI to create smaller zones in the network
and optimize water loss reduction by focusing
efforts on smaller areas with high water loss
1. Meters and AMI

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Hardware Installs
Inline Insertion
Mag Meter
External Acoustic
Leak Detector

Battery & Radio

Battery & Radio

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System-Wide DMA Alerts Help Focus

Operator Resources

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Water Balance – Supplied, Consumed, and NRW

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AWWA Water Loss Reports and NRW Tracking Overview

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AWWA Water Loss Reports (DMA 8 Summary)

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Non-Revenue Water Tracking (DMA 8 Summary)

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Input “Flushing” Events for Authorized Unbilled Consumption

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City of Hot Springs: Reduced Non-Revenue Water

“Working with our staff, Xylem identified

14 distinct areas. We started by locating
significant points for installing flow
meters to measure the water coming in
and leaving the defined areas.

The program is not fully deployed, but

we have already found numerous leaks
in the areas where the monitoring is
ongoing. This lift and shift approach has
been very effective.”

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Digital Platform to Solve
Broader Challenges
Nashville Case Study 3
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EXAMPLE – Nashville Metro Water Services

Nashville Metro Water Services operates a

complex water distribution system including over
3,000 miles of water mains, two 90MGD water
treatment plants and 56 water
pumping stations.

Nashville Metro Water Services partnered

with Xylem to develop a real-time hydraulic and
water quality distribution system decision
support tool

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GIS GIS

Great tool for providing

maps of the system and
asset history

Does not provide real-time

data or system analysis

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SCADA SCADA

Controls the water

distribution system

Provides real-time
feedback on reservoir
levels, pumps, flow,
pressure and other critical
parameters but just
provides data, not system
analysis

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WATER
MODEL

Ability to diagnose
issues in the system
and provides system
analysis

Traditional water
modeling approaches
rely on a static planning-
level description of
system operations

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Traditional Approach to Problem Solving Distribution Issues

Modeling - Obtain Existing Conditions (GIS, SCADA, AMI,

ETC)

Show all data and stakeholders trying to solve the

problem but first they have to agree on what the system
status is (tanks off line, pumps out, pipeline repairs on
going, etc…)

How much time and energy is spent just discussing the

system and how to solve the problem?

All different viewpoints and data sets

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Optimize Water Networks

Sense
Continuous data acquisition from
sensors, gauges, and operation Sense
technologies, along with weather
Predict
and other relevant data sources.
Data sources are continuously integrated
DATA with digital twin model to deliver insights
REFRESHES about the impact of data and the effect on the
system. Hundreds of predictive scenarios are
EVERY Predict run to forecast future conditions, determine
15 MIN optimal outcomes, and recommend
Act operational decisions.
Take action, either manually or with Act
autonomous control, based on the
data-driven recommendations allowing
operators to more effectively manage
the system and meet the unique
demands of each community.

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Optimize Water Networks

AMI / AMR
DATA AGGREGATION
• Customer meters
GIS DEMAND ADJUSTMENTS
• Plant / DS flows
• Pump status / speed
• Valve setting / position Sense
• Reservoir tank level SCADA MODEL ADJUSTMENTS

DATA
REFRESHES
EVERY MODEL FLOW
Predict
15 MIN
VERIFY DATA FOR
DESIGN / PLANNING Act MODEL PRESSURE

RESPOND FASTER TO
CONSUMER COMPLAINTS
MODEL QUALITY
MANAGE PUMP AND
ENERGY OPTIMIZATION
RECEIVE ALERTS

OPERATIONS DASHBOARD

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Operations Explorer
Give a view of the whole system
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Live View
Current Pressure, Flow, Age, Source
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Water Quality Response

TRADITIONAL RESPONSE IMPROVED RESPONSE

• Collect sample? • Check the street and address
• Flush main lines? • If fresh water, then adjust treatment at plant
• Defer to customer? • If old water, then flush the main line
• Check treatment plant? • If unchanged, then customer to flush line
• If reoccurring, change up operations

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Pipeline Break Response

TRADITIONAL RESPONSE IMPROVED RESPONSE

• Leak Starts… • Get Alert for excessive demand
• Leak Grows….
• Leak get catastrophic
• Check tank levels to find zone
• Send emergency crew to fix leak • Send crew to find and fix leak

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What's Next for Nashville?

• Improved Demand Prediction
• Optimization for Pump Efficiency
• Water Quality Prediction
• Water Quality Sampling Data
• Work Order Management Data
• Source Tracing
• Water Production Facility Integration

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Conclusion 4
Areas of Application
Provides different solutions for each area of the complete water cycle.

WATER WASTEWATER & STORMWATER

Technological solutions to optimize Optimization of sewer networks
the processes of water collection, (wastewater and stormwater) and
purification, distribution and wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) to
commercial cycle. prevent problematic events.

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Applications for Water
Technological solutions to optimize catchment, purification,
water distribution and commercial water cycle processes.
Unified System Management
Unified Network Management:
system-wide vision of the company's
operational situation through the integration of
decentralized data and advanced algorithms
for decision making in water distribution
networks.
Unified Plant Management: global
vision of the company's operational situation
through the integration of decentralized data
and advanced algorithms for decision
making in water treatment plants. Applicable
to one or multiple plants.
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Applications for Wastewater & Stormwater
Optimization of treatment plants and sewage and stormwater
networks to prevent events and automate processes.
Unified System Management
Unified Network Management:
system-wide vision of the company's
operational situation through the integration of
decentralized data and advanced algorithms for
decision making in sewer networks.
Unified Plant Management: global vision
of the company's operational situation through
the integration of decentralized data and
advanced algorithms for decision making in
wastewater treatment plants. Applicable to one
or multiple plants.
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Water Loss Management
Leak Detection: detection and
categorization of water losses including
visualization of key indicators in real time,
including DMAs and virtual DMAs.
Leak Localization: investigate
anomalies and alarms from acoustic and
transient sensors to more accurately identify
the location of potential leaks.
Smart Metering
Meter Data Analytics: advanced
analytics of information from meters (visual,
path and fixed network/IoT).
Event Detection
Flood (SSO) / CSO Prediction: compliment
sensor data with additional sources of information,
such as river/tide levels, rainfall forecasts, to
understand current state of the network and predict
the impact of those additional sources of
information on the network.
Wastewater Quality
Biological Monitoring: monitoring of the
presence of the SAR/S-COV-2 virus in the
wastewater network under centralized
management of the whole process.
Asset Management
Clog Monitoring: optimizes the cleaning of
sewer networks to avoid clogging overflow
events (SSO) using information from sensors,
historical data and mathematical modelling.
5/3/2023
Network Real-Time Decision Support
Real-Time What-If Scenarios: digital twin
for real-time simulation, smart operations and
improved operational decision-making with what-if
scenarios.​
Network Real-Time Decision Support:
integration of historical and real-time data
(including sensors, hydraulic modeling, GIS,
SCADA, etc.) to predict operating needs and
determine corrective actions with special focus on
Water Age Prediction, Water Pressure Prediction,
and Plant Source Identification.
Network Real-Time Decision Support
Flood (SSO) / CSO Prevention:
leverage of current or expected state the
network to compute near optimum control
scenario that would prevent impact at SSO/CSO
locations.
Real-Time What-If Scenarios: digital
twin for real-time simulation, smart operations
and improved operational decision-making with
what-if scenarios.​
Plant Real-time Decision Support
Plant Real-Time Decision Support:
real-time digital monitoring and optimized
modeling which simulates treatment
processes and enhance plant control in order
to reduce energy consumption/costs or
dosing while meeting the effluent thresholds.
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Advantages of Xylem Vue powered by GoAigua

Agnostic
Must process different data sources regardless of
the suppliers (manufacturers) or technologies.
Scalable
Easy integration with new elements to be managed
without affecting critical and continuous operation.
Reliable performance when facing processed and
recorded (historical) data growth.

Modular
The applications must switch on or off depending on Secure
the use cases required. The solution has been designed with
cybersecurity protocols for critical infrastructures.
Sensitive data are encrypted, managed or hidden
according with the platform access role.
Interoperable
It must communicate with other platforms or solutions
(North/South Bound Interface). Adaptable
It adapts to the client’s processes and requirements.

Based on Open-Source SW
Depending on the client’s requirements, open-source
software solutions are presented at platform level to
optimize costs and facilitate maintenance.

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EXAMPLE – Houston Water

Houston Water operates a complex wastewater, stormwater, and • Smart Meters

water distribution system including over 39 treatment plants, 3 • Flexnet Radio Network
surface water plants, 2.2 million customers, 600 square miles, 1500 • Unified Data Platform
employees just for water. • Wastewater Monitoring and Predictive
Analytics
With all the complex workings and system of systems for water, • Stormwater Monitoring project
Houston has developed a Smart Water platform integrated with • Much more
all five layers including their own radio network and analytics.

We must leap, not stroll into the future. We must sprint,

not jog. It will be this city that will be the Smart City of
the world."
Mayor Sylvester Turner, May 2018

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Question & Answer 5
Question & Answer

David Overfield Andrew Swirsky Matthew Thomas

Manager of Technical Strategic Account Business Development
Solutions Manager Manager

david.overfield@xylem.com Andrew.Swirsky@xylem.com matthew.thomas@xylem.com

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Xylem Vue powered by GoAigua Architecture

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today’s webinar.
As part of your registration, you are entitled to receive
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Presenter Biography

Andrew Swirsky
Client Solution Manager
Xylem

Andrew Swirsky is a Client Solution Manager for the Xylem Vue

team. Andrew holds a Civil Engineering degree from Texas A&M
University and is a licensed Professional Engineer. He has over ten
years of experience with consent decrees, water loss, flood
mitigation, and digital tools for dozens of cities across the USA.

Get in touch: Andrew.Swirsky@xylem.com

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Presenter Biography

Matthew Thomas
Business Development Manager
Vertical Marketing Utility Networks

Matthew is a Business Development Manager for Vertical Marketing Utility

Networks at Xylem. Matthew has 40 years of professional utility experience
and most recently served as Assistant Director at Houston Public Works
(HPW), Customer Accounts Services (CAS). Prior to joining HPW, Matthew
spent 22 years in leadership roles in Electric Utility Operations, followed by
12 years of Financial Planning and Analysis leadership in the Oil and Gas
industry.

Get in touch: matthew.thomas@xylem.com

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Presenter Biography

David Overfield
Senior Manager Technical Solutions
Xylem

David is a Senior Manager of Technical Solutions for the Midwest Region of

Sensus. He has over 30 years of experience in the communications, RF, and utility
industries and 11 years with Sensus. He started his career in the United States
Marine Corps in Test Measurement and Diagnostic Equipment and holds a BA
degree in Management and Communications from Concordia University, WI.

Get in touch: david.overfield@xylem.com

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Thank You to Our 2023 Webinar Sponsors

Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology company committed to solving critical water
and infrastructure challenges with innovation. Our more than 17,000 diverse employees
delivered revenue of $5.5 billion in 2022. We are creating a more sustainable world by enabling
our customers to optimize water and resource management and helping communities in more
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