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Why digital twin a river?
Anglian Water has the largest 'territory' of all of the UK utilities. It has a number of chalk streams which are in poor condition of which the River Stiffkey is one of the most iconic. The digital twinning project was designed to model a spatial river catchment map using a variety of sources to assess water quality and environmental conditions.
While digital twins have been utilised in the wider water sector for a number of years, this is the first project of its kind.
The digital twin will help the utility respond to river quality issues and meet the needs of its customers, not just in terms of providing clean drinking water, but also in terms of the social and environmental prosperity a clean river brings to the region.
The benefits of creating a digital twin were explained by Chris Gerrard, catchment and biodiversity manager, Anglian Water, who told media: "We can now drive new solutions to improve river health that can benefit our operational colleagues who are managing assets day-to-day. We can do it more cheaply, more effectively, and with a smaller carbon footprint as well."
Anglian will use the digital twin to 'scale solutions to a major issue affecting customers and the environment now and in the long term, enabling new ideas and ways of working with partners from a broad range of sectors and perspectives'.
Why focus on a chalk stream?
The River Stiffkey is one of only 200 chalk streams in the world; 85 per cent of all chalk streams are located in southern and eastern England. In many ways, they are the river that people associate with England.
They are situated in lowland areas, emerging from chalk aquifers, with crystal clear waters that run at a constant temperature year-round over gravel beds abundant with flora and wildlife. They are famous for trout and salmon and support a much wider ecosystem. Many chalk streams have been modified over the centuries to aid human activity, whether fishing, the use of watermills, or for abstraction.
The digital twin solution brings data together from across several sources in a connected stack so the company can digitally model a spatial river catchment map to show cause and effect. AI can then be used to run simulations based on the data that flows through the model to help identify and mitigate risks, protect river health and provide clean water to people in the region.
Project supported by the Ofwat Innovation Fund
The project is being led by Anglian Water in partnership with Microsoft, utilising the tech giant's Azure cloud-based platform that includes AI, IoT, machine learning tools and more. Other partners include Avanade UK Limited, Severn Trent Water, Wessex Water, National Trust, The Country Land and Business Association (CLA), Suffolk Sustainability institute – University of Suffolk, and Norfolk Rivers Trust.
It has been supported by the Ofwat Innovation Fund - Water Breakthrough Challenge with a grant award of €1.4 million. The Innovation Fund was established by UK regulator Ofwat to 'grow the water sector's capacity to innovate, enabling it to better meet the evolving needs of customers, society and the environment'.
The fund is delivered in partnership with Challenge Works and supported by Arup and Isle Utilities. It aims to drive impact through three key areas.
- Accelerating the creation and roll-out of innovative products, services and concepts
- Growing the capacity and capability of the sector to innovate
- Embedding a culture that values, encourages and supports innovation.
