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Buffalo Sewer Authority in USA Saves $145 Million, Cuts Pollution with Smart Sewer Technology

Buffalo Sewer Authority (BSA) has saved $145 million by deploying a cutting-edge digital system that reduced polluted water flowing into its rivers during storm events.

The city has won an international award by harnessing the power of real-time control, modelling, and analytics.

WD News: Buffalo Sewer Authority (BSA) has saved $145 million by deploying a cutting-edge digital system that reduced polluted water flowing into its rivers during storm events. By harnessing the power of data and analytics, the city improved the quality of local waterways and can use the $145 million savings to lessen the associated costs for city residents.

The technology allowed BSA to use its existing network and solve a longstanding problem without spending on new infrastructure.

“Buffalo’s waterways have come a long way in recent years, with people fishing, strolling along their banks, and enjoying all sorts of festivities,” said Mayor Byron W. Brown.

Ageing water infrastructure, the impacts of climate change, and tight budgets to pay for upgrades mean utilities must be innovative to solve critical challenges.

“This project is about giving Buffalo a new way to manage its existing system. They already have these big assets and pieces of infrastructure. The idea is to give them a little tweak so that they run slightly differently during wet weather and avoid combined sewer discharges into the waterways,” said Rich Loeffler, Senior Practice and Solutions Architect at Xylem.

Using Xylem’s Wastewater Network Optimisation System to address high volumes of combined sewer overflows (CSOs), BSA harnessed the power of machine learning, hydraulic modelling, and data and analytics to optimise its network.

“Whether it’s people, dollars, or opportunities, we realise that there are gaps in resources. We seek to bridge those gaps by being smarter and working harder to ensure that we are sustainable in what we do and that we are resilient in that effort,” said Oluwole A. (OJ) McFoy, General Manager of BSA.

“It’s important to understand how it’s all connected and that we’re all doing our part to make sure that we have this resource for many generations to come,” said Kristina Macro, Project Manager of Xylem.

Source: Xylem
Image courtesy: Pixabay

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