Melbourne Water Works with Arq Group (NCS Australia) to Accurately Predict Recycled Water Quality Using AWS Digital Twin Solution

AWS Partner Arq Group (now part of NCS Australia) worked with Melbourne Water to create a digital twin solution on AWS in three months, helping Melbourne Water predict water quality issues and giving customers the opportunity to be proactive about water shortages. The digital twin pilot is based on AWS services.

Melbourne Water Corporation manages and protects the water supply for more than 5 million people in the Melbourne, Australia, area. Owned by the Victorian Government, Melbourne Water works with local water retailers to ensure the community has reliable, safe drinking water. As Australia’s largest producer of Class A recycled water—the highest quality of recycled water—the organization safely treats sewage and uses the waste to power treatment plants, fertilize fields, and produce high-quality recycled water for a range of non drinking uses, helping to reduce the use of potable water in reservoirs.

Increasingly, Melbourne Water wanted to be able to predict the impact of weather and other outside factors on recycled water production. For example, turbidity—the measure of water clarity—can negatively impact production. “As a wholesale water provider, we provide services to thousands of households and farmers, and they depend on our recycled water. However, if the water is too cloudy, we can’t take it through our tertiary treatment plant and we have to advise our customers that we can’t produce water, which means they need to seek alternative water sources,” says Blair Smith, innovation lead at Melbourne Water Corporation. To avoid this outcome, Melbourne Water sought to perform predictive analyses on water data captured from more than 700 sensors and meters in water treatment plants. “We wanted to analyze factors impacting production to see if we could provide early warnings to our customers that we can’t produce while indicating when we might be able to produce water again,” says Smith.

Melbourne Water reached out to Arq Group (part of NCS Australia), an AWS Partner that specializes in cloud, digital data, and analytics solutions, to help solve the problem. Arq Group (NCS Australia) had recently helped Melbourne Water create a unified data solution based on Amazon Web Services (AWS) to display data sources in a single view. Following the success of this solution, Melbourne Water asked Arq Group (NCS Australia) to build a digital twin, a virtual model that reflects Melbourne Water’s recycling water production. “Because of our existing relationship with Melbourne Water, we were able to extend our footprint to deliver a digital twin pilot for Class A recycled water,” says Steve Avery, head of the Smart Cities and Digital Twin Program at Arq Group (NCS Australia). “We wanted to help them get operational data to inform engineers and gain new insights into how they run water treatment plants.”

Arq Group (NCS Australia) used AWS services to build a digital twin pilot solution to model Melbourne Water’s end-to-end process of recycled water production. “Using AWS, we developed the digital twin project in three months,” Avery says. “That would have taken much longer had we attempted it on our own.”

The solution relies on AWS to collect and analyze real-time Internet of Things (IoT) sensor data, environmental data, and weather data—such as wind speed, rain levels, and temperature—and uses AWS machine learning models to predict what might happen to water quality. With the solution, Melbourne Water has a holistic view of its recycled water production operations and can use AWS dashboards to quickly view any water quality issues at a glance.

Cortesy: Arq Group

With the digital twin pilot, Melbourne Water increased its ability to predict water quality issues from day one. The organization also predicted water quality for the next two days with 75 percent accuracy. “Previously, we had no predictive capabilities at all,” Smith says. “With the Arq Group (NCS Australia) and AWS pilot solution, we got an accurate three-day outlook on turbidity conditions that impact our recycled water production. We detected water quality issues faster so we could see whether or not we could produce water. Importantly, Melbourne Water could predict when water conditions would support the resumption of production.”

Because Melbourne Water is the country’s largest producer of Class A recycled water, it is critical for the organization to better understand water quality for the production of recycled water. “Using the Arq Group (NCS Australia) and AWS pilot solution, Melbourne Water was able to see, in real time, production issues that needed prompt attention,” Avery says. “This gave them fast turnaround and a better ability to predict what direction the quality was going in, which is key for the production of recycled water for their customers.”

With an improved ability to predict water quality, Melbourne Water could potentially provide early warnings to water utilities by communicating when the organization can or cannot produce Class A recycled water. “This would allow our customers to plan more effectively when it comes to accessing recycled water for a range of purposes. They could be proactive instead of reactive, which is better for their own end customers,” says Smith.

Arq Group (NCS Australia) is currently working with Melbourne Water to create another digital twin project based on real-time video analytics for drones. “Projects like these are complex and require detailed data science, which is what our data science and engineering teams can provide,” says Avery. “Working closely with AWS, we will continue delivering fast value to customers like Melbourne Water.”