Insights

What if there was a way you could better predict major water pipe failures before they occurred? Avoid damage and flooding? Reduce service interruptions? And minimize repair costs? Well, it just so happens that the Water (AI) Pipe Predictor (WAIPP) by Arcadis Gen has all of these bases covered.

WAIPP – one of AppliedInsight’s intuitive apps – allows you to harness the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to pinpoint and predict which of your organization’s pipes are most likely to fail and when. Our uniquely data-driven solution is specifically designed to identify high-risk pipe assets and their chances of breaking down over the next 25 years, giving you time to proactively prioritize your asset management strategy and take preventative action before disaster strikes.

Precise pinpointing

WAIPP’s innovative map function allows users to easily visualize pipe issues, no matter where their community is. Our visual tool communicates the need for an optimal replacement plan, showing exactly where problem areas are with amazing accuracy.

WAIPP in real life

In a case study of a mid-sized Indiana-based utility, when compared to the effectiveness of an in-house risk model alone, WAIPP yielded a 43% efficiency gain in proactive replacements, when considering a goal of preventing 300 failures.

It’s worth noting that many utilities have an internal risk score that flags pipes that are most at risk. These risk scores are usually based on internal factors that help utilities understand their asset data and are significantly better than just using age. Another US-based water utility used past failure data from 2016 to 2020 to validate WAIPP. The app identified four times the number of actual failures compared to age alone, almost twice compared to its internal risk score, and an additional 40% adding the internal risk score to WAIPP.

So as you can see, the results and figures speak for themselves – making it clear that WAIPP can do more, while crucially spending less.

But how exactly does WAIPP work its magic?

On the surface, the premise of WAIPP seems pretty straightforward: simply upload your data sets and wait for us to analyze the performance of your assets. But what’s the secret behind this innovative technology? Just how does WAIPP ascertain asset ID, failure rates and much more with such incredible accuracy?

In a nutshell, the WAIPP approach is a clever combination of statistical inference and automated machine learning. All of this is validated using time shift studies, based on historical failure data. In fact, our team of asset experts have been tackling problem assets for over 15 years, using a particular analytics model for the last 10, before the creation of WAIPP three years ago.

Because WAIPP uses statistical inference, it is able to predict total failures rather than risk score or score that predicts likelihood of failures. Many solutions provide overall risk without giving exact numbers. However, with WAIPP, you’re able to pinpoint a specific number of failures, giving you the most accurate data that allows for more informed decisions on maintenance infrastructure. WAIPP also takes into consideration factors such as soil type and pressure flexibly. You can even bring in a custom risk model, if you have one – as the WAIPP solution will use it to enhance its prediction.

Protect your pipes with advanced analytics from AppliedInsight

You don’t need a data analyst to accurately predict pipe failures in your organization. Thanks to the Water (AI) Pipe Predictor from Arcadis Gen, every organization has access to advanced analytics that will lead to better decision-making and performance.

W(AI)PP offers an artificial intelligence- and machine learning-based solution for any size of water organization, with technology that has been proven to predict 60% more pipe failures than traditional age-based methods. Now you can more accurately plot areas of risk, and track changes made to understand the success of your interventions.

So when it comes to maintaining your pipe network, let WAIPP future proof your world. To learn more you can request a demo today.