From Data to Decisions: AI for Flood, Water Supply and Wastewater Management | MANCHESTER | IN-PERSON

Hosted by the CIWEM North Western and North Wales branch

Event description

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly changing how flood risk, water supply networks, and wastewater systems are monitored, analysed, forecast, and managed. This evening seminar brings together presentations that show how AI can improve flood forecasting accuracy, support proactive management of water supply networks under business-as-usual (BAU) conditions, improve understanding of wastewater network performance, and demonstrate the use of social media in the communication of flood warnings to the public.

The event will explore how data-driven approaches can facilitate better operational decision-making.

Part of the CIWEM Technology, Flood Resilience and Adaption, and Wastewater and Biosolids series.

Who should attend

The target audience are those seeking to understand how AI can be responsibly incorporated into flood, water supply and wastewater management, including:

• Flood risk and drainage engineers.
• Water and wastewater utilities professionals.
• Environmental consultants.
• Local authority officers.
• Regulators and policymakers.
• Researchers and postgraduate students.

Why attend the talk

• Learn about how AI and machine learning are applied to flood forecasting, water supply networks, and wastewater systems.
• Discover how to better disseminate flood risk warnings to the public using social media.
• Recognise the use of high spatio-temporal resolution data in managing water supply and wastewater systems, providing the "big data” to be used by machine learning.
• Be able to identify opportunities for using social media for communicating flood warnings to the public.
• An opportunity to network with other professionals in the sector.

Programme

Welcome and introduction

AI and Physics for Flood Hydrology

Dr Elizabeth Lewis | University of Manchester

Social media in flood risk management: insights from the field

Kathryn Gleave | Environment Agency

Using ML to improve sewer network flood performance

Simon Gaskell | Jacobs

Embedding AI/ML into business-as-usual water network management

Dr Stephen Boult | University of Manchester / Salamander Ltd

Q&A session

Close

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About the speakers

Simon Gaskell | Digital Transformation Change Manager | Jacobs

Simon Gaskell is a passionate change manager with much of his career spent enabling operational transformation across multiple industries. Simon has a passion for implementing new ways of working, which are enabled through client adoption of new technologies and digital solutions.

He is currently leading the delivery of the Jacobs’ Aqua DNA solution. Sitting at the crossroads of client requirements for more mature, digital-based management of the water networks, emerging IoT technologies and Jacobs domain expertise, I have been able to build a strong understanding of digitally enabled transformation within water businesses.

Dr Elizabeth Lewis | Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering and Management | University of Manchester

Dr Elizabeth Lewis is a Senior Lecturer in Computational Hydrology at The University of Manchester. Her area of expertise is hydrological data, hydrological modelling and climate impacts.

Elizabeth’s work falls into two categories. The first is about improving the quantity and quality of hydrological data, so that we can examine observations and determine how climate change is already affecting hydrological extremes. This includes investigating the potential application of novel datasets such as citizen science data, community-gathered data, and data hidden in institutional records, as well as creating software to rigorously quality control existing formal data streams. Her second focus is on developing sophisticated computer models to project near-real time to far future flood and drought characteristics and frequencies. In this work, Elizabeth uses a national-scale physically-based hydrological model (SHETRAN-GB) to investigate climate impacts on future high and low flows.

Kathryn Gleave | Flood & Coastal Risk Management Advisor | Environment Agency

Kathryn Gleave is a Chartered Water and Environment Management member specialising in partnership working to deliver integrated outcomes. In 2022, Kathryn completed a master’s thesis focused on flood risk communication, primarily the advancements in social media.

Dr Stephen Boult | AI/ML for water supply network management | The University of Manchester

Steve Boult’s research examines the controls on pollutant mobility, including bioavailability and flux quantification. A significant component focuses on translating research into industry practice through patents and improved environmental monitoring standards. This work is delivered via Salamander Ltd, which designs and manufactures monitoring equipment and collaborates with businesses to develop projects that use high spatio-temporal resolution data for system management, modelling, and increasingly data-driven and machine-learning applications.

Booking and joining information

This event is open to members and non-members of CIWEM.

Please note there is limited capacity at this event. Bookings must be made through 'My CIWEM' using the above booking link. Non-members who have not registered for the MyCIWEM system can create an account on the booking page in order to reserve their place.

If you have any questions about your booking or would like to cancel your attendance, please contact branches@ciwem.org.

Please note that registrations close at 09:00, two working days before the event is to take place. If you have not registered by then, unfortunately we cannot add you to the event.

If you have any queries about this talk, please contact Andrew Lowe at andrew.lowe-2@manchester.ac.uk.

About the venue and getting there

The event will take place at University Place, Lecturer Theatre A at the University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. The venue is just under 30-minutes’ walk from Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Oxford Road railway stations and several bus routes run near the venue.

Travelling to the venue

As part of CIWEM’s commitment to tackling the climate and ecological emergency we would encourage delegates to use the most environmentally sustainable means of transport possible.

By Train

Manchester Oxford Road (Oxford Road, Greater, Station Approach, Oxford Rd, Manchester M1 6FU) is the nearest mainline railway stations to University Place. It is part of the Manchester railway station network, connecting with the other major Manchester railway stations, Piccadilly, Victoria and Deansgate. Northern is the main operator running services that connect up with the main Manchester railway stations, for those coming from outside Manchester or travelling from other parts the city.

By Bus | Coach | Tram

There are several bus routes that run between Oxford Road railway station and the university campus, but the most frequent service is the no. 147 bus.

Other bus routes, including the no. 111, 142, and 143 run along Oxford Road where the venue is located. Manchester Coach Station (M1 3ED) is four-minutes’ bus journey from the venue and nineteen-minutes’ walk away.

By foot | cycle

The venue is a fourteen-minute and a twenty two-minute walk from Oxford Road Station and the Manchester bus and coach station respectively. It takes about five to six-minutes to cycle from either the nearest railway station or the bus and coach station.

By car

If you are coming by car or taxi, please consider sharing the journey with others to reduce your environmental footprint.

As this is an in-person event, please remain vigilant to control the spread of COVID-19 and stay safe. We request that if you think you might have contracted COVID or have recently had the disease, that you do not attend the event.