South West Water has reported that a trial using artificial intelligence to predict blocked sewers has helped reduce pollution in its network. The AI system analysed data from 12,000 sensors to monitor water levels and identify potential sewer blockages before they could cause overflows.
“We estimate around 200 pollutions have been prevented,” said Helen Dobby from South West Water. She added that the system “gives us an extra 12,000 pairs of eyes on our network.” The initiative is part of the company’s wider efforts to improve environmental performance following a “requires improvement” rating from the regulator.
Over a two-year trial, AI was also used to review hours of CCTV footage of sewage infrastructure. This allowed the detection of defects or blockages in wastewater pipes much faster than manual inspections. “It’s much faster at doing the mundane tasks it would take people on site a lot of time to do,” said Joshua Myrans, data scientist at South West Water. “The AI is trained on images labelled by humans… Operatives are free to survey more of the network and catch more problems before they occur.”
The trial comes amid ongoing scrutiny of South West Water’s performance. Earlier this year, failures related to sewage and wastewater treatment spills led to a £24 million enforcement package after a three-year regulator investigation.
Richard Everson, professor of machine learning at a local university and a participant in the trial, said, “Widespread monitoring of our environment using AI will enable us to understand it and manage it better. There are lots of tasks like this that humans try to do and machines turn out to be very good at them.”
Grease, fat, and wet wipes are among the items that can block sewers, explained catchment operator Peter Corps. He urged the public to “bin it, don’t flush it,” noting that most problems arise from inappropriate waste rather than pipe failures.
The AI trial is part of South West Water’s Pollution Incident Reduction Plan, which is fundamental to improving its environmental rating. Helen Dobby noted, “Two stars is not where we want to be.” The company is also increasing training for new wastewater operatives and investing £760 million in storm overflow reduction.
South West Water provides water and sewerage services across Devon and Cornwall, as well as parts of Dorset and Somerset.
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