Adelaide, December 2022, the South Australian Department for Environment and Water (DEW) and the Department for Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS) have announced they will work with technology innovators SpiralData and Urban.io, along with global cloud provider Amazon Web Services (AWS), to trial world leading technology to better manage water resources and provide water usage information and analytics to water licence holders to facilitate business decisions.

South Australia has an extensive network of 12,000 water meters monitoring the water usage across 80,000 square kilometers. The water data is manually collected impacting on the capacity to capture water usage in real time.

To find new ways of reporting water data across the state, DEW is participating in the Department for Industry, Innovation and Science’s Go2Gov program – which links local startups with projects in South Australian Government agencies.

In this trial, South Australian data science consulting service provider SpiralData, a leading specialist in data lakes, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AIML) will work with their partner Urban.io, an Australian provider of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions with proven expertise connecting assets that are dispersed across remote and harsh locations. Both companies are public sector partners of Amazon Web Services, and will use a range of AWS services including AWS IoT core, Amazon Lake Formation, and Amazon Sagemaker.

The automated water metering trial aims to determine if the state’s existing water meters can be retrofitted with a telemetry device to reliably submit remote metering data and provide water license holders and the regulator with access to near real-time water usage data and analytics.

Urban.io will deploy a wireless network that connects water meters and facilitates the collection of data. SpiralData will use artificial intelligence and machine learning to help provide data analytics of the water usage data. The goal is to demonstrate how innovative technologies can reduce labour investment and water usage, and assist water license holders to make informed water management and business decisions. This benefits the environment, water users and makes for healthier water resources while opening the possibilities for broadening the water economy.

Kale Needham, CEO Spiral Data said:

“… climate change is impacting the availability of water in our state; with access to water consumption data in near real time we will not only be able to identify wastage and overuse as it happens but we will be able to better forecast demand, facilitate trade and promote the sustainable use of water resources in South Australia.”

Rob Cumming, CEO Urban.io said:

“… this trial is to prove how industrial assets, scattered across an entire state can be connected, which is exactly the kind of problem our technology was designed for, we love getting data from hard to reach places!”

Andrew Winter, Amazon Web Services, Public Sector Head of Channel & Alliances said:

“This is a great example of AWS Partners working with industry, and the government, to solve community and environmental challenges. We are excited to collaborate with SpiralData and Urban.io as they innovate with AWS to promote efficient and sustainable use of water resources in South Australia.”

DEW Representative, DEW said:

“… we are so happy to work with Spiral Data and Urban.IO on this trial to discover how their offer of real time data can benefit South Australian Water licence holders and DEW. We’d like to thank those water licence holders for their ready participation in the trial, which will take place over the coming months”.

Andrew Nunn, South Australia’s Chief Entrepreneur, said:

“South Australian startups are developing innovative technologies to address some of the state’s most pressing environmental, social and economic challenges.”
“This project is a fantastic example of how government agencies can benefit from local expertise to streamline operations and benefit customers.”

SpiralData builds AI & ML algorithms to optimise complex processes and / or assets. Through thoughtful application of artificial intelligence and machine learning, they give you a decision advantage, so you can minimise risk and transform efficiency. Their Australian team of data scientists, machine learning engineers and technologists work closely with clients in water, defence and food: large, asset-rich organisations with complex processes and critical assets. At SpiralData, we create your decision
advantage. spiraldata.com.au

Urban.io’s Industrial IoT Infrastructure as a Service is designed to connect things in hard to reach places and allow clients to subscribe to health, status or event data for the same price per month from anywhere in the occupied world. By removing the complexity of designing, operating and maintaining an Industrial IoT system Urban.io delivers remote asset data at a cost per point historically considered to be impossible. This unique combination of technology and commercial model saw the company awarded AWS ISV Partner of the Year for Australia in 2021. Now nothing is too hard to reach check out urban.io

The Department for Industry, Innovation and Science fosters the sustainable growth of the South Australian economy by assisting South Australian industries and businesses to succeed. Increasing South Australia's productivity growth through high performing research and innovation systems, supporting the growth of innovative and competitive industries and businesses and improving the state’s manufacturing capability and capacity. For more information visit idiis.sa.gov.au

The Department for Environment and Water’s purpose is to help South Australians conserve, sustain and prosper. The Department is critical to helping community, industry, and government make good long-term decisions and driving the sustainable development of South Australia’s natural resources and heritage, to deliver economic prosperity and a vibrant and healthy society. For more information visit
environment.sa.gov.au