VicWater backs more gov data-sharing to boost AI

VicWater, the peak industry association for the state’s 18 publicly funded water management corporations, says its member have shown interest in increasing data-sharing across all levels of government to strengthen AI capabilities.

The association’s chief executive Jo Lim told iTnews that AI had started to become the focus of its ongoing Intelligent Water Networks (IWN) initiative and that, among its 16 participating members, most are in favour of sharing data to accelerate water management innovations.

“I think there's a strong appetite to explore that. In the last couple of years, under the IWN banner, we've run a couple of sector wide hackathons where we've had people within our member organisations come together and use publicly available data sets to solve problems,” she said.

Lim said that the events were getting people familiar and comfortable with the idea of using shared data sets and accessing them to develop AI applications.

However, VicWater’s members were interested in more than intra-corporation data-sharing, she said.

“That would be of benefit to everyone’s customers. There is huge potential for us to be able to pull together data from other government agencies as well. That would be helpful,” she said.

In particular, the corporations are interested in having access to Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) data to boost their efforts to use AI with their flood management in the wake of the state’s 2022 floods which triggered landslips, damaged businesses and directly cost the state $24 million in the form of emergency relief payments.

“The data that the BoM has is directly relevant to us in the water industry, particularly around the patterns of rainfall, flooding, and so on. Being able to pull that together using AI to help improve our (flood) modelling for example, would be hugely beneficial,” Lim said.

Lim said that VicWater is yet to approach the federal meteorological agency with any specific proposals.

However, she said that some members had sought to get access to the bureau’s data, for specific projects.

Lim said that Melbourne Water, for instance, is in the midst of a major exercise to update its floodplain modelling across the greater Melbourne area, working with local councils and that it had sought access to the BoM’s data.

AI use cases explored

The AI strand of VicWater’s IWN program is currently conducting trials to explore ways to use the technology to help accelerate development approvals as the housing shortage continues to bite.

It’s also experimenting with using AI to process very large volumes of sensor-based data for earlier detection of potentially damaging pressure transients which can cause material fatigue and lead to major leaks.

“We're collecting all of these data points using AI to analyse it and home in on where the pressure transience is happening, so that that can then be addressed," Lim said.

"Previously, we couldn't really do that because manually it's just too much data to be looking at."

Lim said that the water corporations haven't been given a blank cheque to pursue AI projects, but conceded that using the technology was an unspoken directive as part of Victoria broader aim to grab efficiency gains from innovation.

“If it's successful, then it could be rolled out across the network, but there's always a cost consideration. So, these things, you know, you've got to pay for this so we need to actually build business case around it as well,” she said.

VicWater has also started examining AI projects that could help the sector retain intellectual property at risk of loss as technicians start to reach career stages nearing their exit from the workforce.

For instance, Lim said that one corporation had developed a mobile application that uses agentic AI and LLMs to process infrastructure manuals.

The technicians can then add intelligence about how the infrastructure operates in practice, thereby preserving the intellectual property in the institution.

“We’re always on the lookout for these [innovation] opportunities,” Lim said.

VicWater's facilitation role

VicWater was founded as a means to provide a unified voice to speak to Victoria’s government about water management on behalf of the corporations, which effectively operate as independent but government-funded enterprises subject to official directions.

Unlike many other Australian states where water is paid for through local council rates, every five years VicWater’s members make pricing submissions to Victoria’s Essential Services Commission (ESC) to set the cost of water.

The corporations can use the mechanism to justify spending programs and make a case for projects that can potentially lead to benefits for all water users.

When it comes to technology, VicWater acts as a facilitator overseeing limited trials and proof-of-concept exercises that the association that showcases to members, and acts as umbrella body to articulate the sector’s needs.