Hear from Keith Muller, Senior Director of Product Management & Engineering, Water at AUTODESK on how they are supporting water companies and municipalities to prepare their assets and infrastructure to withstand the excess of stormwater.

Read the full transcript below:

Waveney Metcalfe: Hello, I’m Waveney Metcalfe, partnerships manager for the World Water Tech Innovation Summit, taking place in London this February, the 25th and 26th. I’m delighted to be joined by Keith Muller, senior director of product management and Engineering for water at Autodesk. Welcome, Keith.


Keith Muller: Thank you. We have this pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me, I’m really looking forward to the event.


Waveney Metcalfe:  Good. It’s great to be speaking to you ahead of the summit and I’m keen just to get into a little bit more around the sort of storm and wastewater management side of things, particularly sort of touching on how utilities can predict and and prepare for events such as flooding. So let’s dive in.

So, with increasing rainfall intensity, putting a strain on wastewater systems in many parts of the world, how are you supporting water companies and municipalities to prepare to prepare their assets and infrastructure?
Withstand the excess of storm water.


Keith Muller:
Yeah. Thanks for asking such a great question, because. This is really why Autodesk Water solutions exist.We’re supporting customers really in four key ways, collaboration accuracy, real time data and asset management.

So let me just detail a little bit about these. So as the challenges of climate change intensify, right and become more importantly become less predictable and we’ve seen that right. We appreciate the urgency that that our customers need to improve the resiliency of their infrastructure.
Accuracy plays a really critical role here, right? So through our modelling and simulation solutions, we really empower utilities to precisely model and and more importantly visualise storm water systems under a variety of scenarios. Second, you know, my point is really related to the complexity that exists in our water ecosystem and and how collaboration can stem the effects of this complexity and really translate into more impactful and efficient solutions.
So Autodesk’s totally understands the importance of collaboration.
This is embedded into our solutions and we’re constantly working on tools to to better improve collaboration and and improve project administration and create workflows that really take full advantage of group crab collaboration.
Really, a third is about real time data. So beyond planning and modelling solutions need to integrate this real time monitoring and real time data to give operators a more dynamic view of of water levels and system performance during.
Flooding events and so by combining predictive insights with real time data, utilities are set up to act faster and more efficiently and more effectively in.

Whether it’s, you know, rerouting, excessive storm water or or mitigating overflow risks. And really just driving the ability to forecast in and and adapt in real time like we feel that that’s a major game changer. And then lastly.
Reliability is essential, like asset reliability, it’s a must do. And so we’re we’re making it easier for utilities to.
Assess the condition of their assets with tools that identify and prioritise maintenance needs that we appreciate or they understand and appreciate the criticality of those assets, really allowing them to allocate both capital resources and human resources more effectively and tackling that that ageing infrastructure before it becomes a liability. So really ultimately our goal is to help water professionals and the stewards.
Of those systems enhance their proactive approach.


Waveney Metcalfe: Brilliant. Yeah, I can see why those factors would be really important in that approach. And can you tell me a little bit more about how AI can be integrated into smart systems to enhance real time monitoring and and control of water levels during flooding events?


Keith Muller: Yeah, I love this topic. AI is everywhere, right? We’re constantly seeing the effects and the and the possibilities of AI. And I would say it’s evolving at an extremely rapid pace.


Waveney Metcalfe:  Yeah.


Keith Muller: And Autodesk, we have some of the leading experts really working on how to best leverage AI. And so from what we can see today, AI has the potential to transform how we manage critical events like flooding. So bringing together data from forecasts, weather forecasts.
Data like sensors or SCADA information along with those models that we just previously talked about. The AI can provide utilities with that unified view of the system ahead of real time, and that’s important right ’cause the decision makers. We want them to have actual, accurate, actionable insights really at their fingertip when, when, sometimes, lately and we’ve seen a lot of examples of this.
When when every second counts. So for instance, during a flood event.
You know, AI power systems can predict water levels with a great degree of precision. Based on that real time rainfall data and that modelled system capacity, and that allows operators to take more of a pre emptive approach with confidence in in making changes to the system. So really it’s not just about responding quickly, it AI is giving us an opportunity to do it with accuracy and that can make all the difference in in real time.


Waveney Metcalfe: And what is the capacity of AI backed predictive modelling and an early warning systems in allowing for proactive flood control measures, for example, how can the sector speed up the adoption of predictive technologies and move away from those more reactive solutions?


Keith Muller: Yeah, I think that, you know, utilities are all about proactive action like we’ve seen a massive shift in the last 10 years of of utilities being more proactive, AI predictive model. You know, it opens a new door to a future where where flood control is is even further driven by foresight. So with those predictive tools, utilities can can simulate potential flood scenarios.

Under a wide diversity of circumstances, they can identify those vulnerabilities that emerge under those perhaps never seen before situations.
And then implement preventative measures before event occurs. So this not only saves time, right, but it minimises risk to the communities and infrastructure you asked about adoption. And so in order to do this at scale, we’re thinking about it from an enablers perspective. So first we need to simplify the tools like this is essential. So by creating systems that are intuitive and adaptable. We really lower the barrier of entry for all utilities.

Second, demonstrating the real-world value of these solutions through pilot projects that have measurable outcomes, preferably under non, you know emergency situations. It helps to build confidence among stakeholders. And then third, I think it’s important that we recognise that there is a huge body of knowledge and expertise in our operational team around the water industry.
And so our goal isn’t meant to replace that expertise, like we need to provide insights that enhance that expertise. And that’s really gonna drive adoption. So, so finally, just empowering utilities to have that frame of mind and then train AI systems on their own models for local conditions like really ensures that these tools are truly being tailored for their unique challenges.
And ultimately showcasing measurable outcomes through those pilot projects through. You know those take case studies where we’re delivering consistent, accurate results that that the teams can really build confidence in.


Waveney Metcalfe: Yeah, absolutely. And that’s really interesting. Thank you so much for sharing those insights, and for those watching and attending the summit, you can catch Keith on the storm and wastewater management panel at 11:45 on the morning of Tuesday, the 25th of February. Thank you so much for your time today, Keith. And we can’t wait to hear more from you at the summit.


Keith Muller: Thanks, Waveney. I really appreciate it that you’ve taken the time and speak with me today.

Meet Keith at the summit in London and join him in the session ‘Storm & Wastewater Management: Optimising Predictive Modelling and Infrastructure’ at 12.05pm on February 25.