The water and sewage industry is facing very big challenges. The systems are old with enormous investment needs in maintenance, renewal and upgrades. The solution to many of these problems is the necessary investment in digitization and AI.

Functioning water and sewage systems are an international concern. The need for the water and sewage systems to work is a prerequisite for well-functioning societies and an important part of the smart cities that many places are now trying to build. The problem and the challenge are that, while smart cities are about the future, water & sewage is about old technology, aging production and usually obsolete pipe systems. Add to that the challenges in the form of increasing urbanization, climate change and increased security risks, while clean water tends to become a scarce commodity.

Gigantic infrastructure

For many, water and sewage are a matter of course. Our communities' expanded water & sewage systems are mostly invisible, but gigantic in the form of an innumerable number of waste, day and drinking water lines, waterworks sewage treatment plants, service lines, reservoirs, pressure boosting stations and sewage pumping stations.

In total, it is about a total invested value in the Swedish water and sewage systems of the equivalent of SEK 800 billion.

Big problems and challenges

But the water and sewage industry is facing very big challenges. Since most of the Swedish facilities were built in the 1960s and 1970s, the need for reinvestment in maintenance, renewal and upgrades is immense. This is in addition to the annual necessary investments required just to cope with tomorrow, which in Europe is estimated to amount to 45,000 million Euros. The figures differ significantly between different countries, where the need for investment is greatest in countries such as Switzerland, Norway and Denmark.

- Add to that the densification and urbanization of our communities, as well as the fact that future climate changes in the form of heavy rainfall and periods of persistent drought are expected to increase the strain on VA systems, says Jonas Berggren, CEO of the AI company Calejo Hybrid Intelligence, which helps the Water & Sewage industry to optimize its processes.

Another threat is the increased security risk in the form of chemicals, cyber-attacks, terror and other geopolitical aspects affecting the water and sewage organizations as well as other parts of society directly and with full force.

- Sewage management threatens the environment, while clean water tends to become an increasingly scarce commodity both in Sweden and globally. To cope with all these challenges, the water and sewage organizations need to be provided with financial resources and new skills, says Jonas Berggren.

Important tool

Digitization and especially AI is an important tool to be able to change the water and sewage industry's business models and increase customer benefit.

- Increased digitization of operations can provide better opportunities for necessary measurements of various physical, chemical and economic parameters. And here AI helps with the management and analysis of large amounts of information for a better understanding of how existing and newly built facilities work, says Jonas Berggren.

AI is optimizing the water and sewage industry

In addition, the AI company Calejo, has done several successful own pilot projects together with leading Swedish market actors, like Sulzer, and five different municipalities.

- We can clearly see that AI can be used for more efficient control and monitoring of the water and sewage networks, says Jonas Berggren. In Calejo, we have created an AI tool that, with the help of digital twins and so-called hybrid modeling of the processes, helps customers to optimize their water and sewage processes.

Hybrid modeling is a new and highly effective method, which combines AI technology with traditional modeling.

- The digital twin is then used to optimize the process based on different scenarios with the aim of optimizing production and productivity, reducing energy consumption and minimizing environmental emissions, concludes Jonas Berggren.

Facts: Water & Sewage in Sweden

- 197,000 km of waste, day and drinking water pipes.

- About 1,500 water works.

- Close to 1,600 sewage treatment plants.

- 17,000 km of public service lines.

- Over 200,000 km of private service lines.

- 1,200 reservoirs.

- 2,300 pressure boosting stations.

- 16,000 sewage pumping stations.

- 37,000 so-called LTA (Low Pressure Drainage) stations.

- Production of clean water: 900 million cubic meters per year.

- The corresponding figure for wastewater management is significantly greater, as a result of rainfall and groundwater levels.