Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been increasing significantly in today´s industrial operations and can also be a helpful initiative for saving a large amount of money for a company. This is what was done by BirminD, one of the WEG Group companies, with a development of a customized solution for the Municipality Water and Sewage Service company (Samae) in the city of Jaraguá do Sul, in the state of Santa Catarina. The on-demand solution consists of a software designed exclusively to detect water losses in the water distribution system.

Upon discussions with Samae´s technical team, BirminD developed a suitable solution for the so-called Samae´s Sustainable hydro-energy efficiency program already implemented in the city. “To actively control water losses, we used electronic equipment to detect losses with analysis technology made by artificial intelligence,” says Diego Mariano, CEO of BirminD. According to the executive, the system consists of collecting samples of water flow characteristic curve detected at the critical points. Through data pre-processing and application of AI algorithms, which identify operation patterns, the solution can identify and send alerts for losses and unusual consumption records. The solution intends to optimize the detection process, save labor hours, non-revenue water and ensuring satisfactory supply.

Regarded as a reference in the water supply sector in Santa Catarina, serving 99.8% of the population with water distribution networks, Samae has already implemented BirminD's AI solution in seven of the municipality's 40 SAATs (Treated Water Supply System) units. During the testing period, two losses were detected which together represented approximately one Olympic pool of water that would have been lost per day.

Gradually, the solution developed by BirminD will be expanded to include the entire water distribution system at Samae.

“Contributing to the environment, reducing working hours and bringing even better quality and savings to the population can be achieved through application to artificial intelligence and for BirminD, it is an honor to be part of this sustainability project,” says Mariano.