How to have a conversation with your data

Giving pipes a “voice”

Northumbrian Water Group (NWG), which serves more than 4.5 million people in the UK, is rolling out millions of smart water meters and sensors to measure network performance and customer usage.

In effect, the company has given its legacy network of “dumb” water meters and underground pipes a "voice” — and is using a cloud-based data management and advanced analytics to listen, learn and act.

For example, transforming management of customer meters using Siemens Gridscale X Meter Data Management, which analyzes millions of data points from sensors and meters each day, identifying anomalies and issuing real-time leakage alerts.

Gary Adams, Head of Smart Transformation at NWG, said: "The Siemens Gridscale X Meter Data Management implementation is a critical cornerstone in our smart metering journey. It allows us to effectively manage the large volumes of metering data we receive and to drive efficient operational activity for both our customers and our wider business - providing access to granular smart data at the click of a button."

Here are three lessons that other organizations learn from how NWG has integrated its data and systems:

1. Build strong digital foundations

Digital transformation begins with reliable data. That means making it accessible, accurate, and meaningful.

For utilities, this involves installing smart sensors, integrating legacy systems, and — crucially—  labeling and structuring data so it has operational value.

For example, Siemens' Water Quality Analytics as a Service (WQAaaS) solution is already being used by UK water utilities, including NWG, to provide real-time insights on water quality. With a payment model based on the volume and quality of data being used, NWG ensures it can source usable data from water quality sensors that are difficult to manage.

New insights on the age of water and the movement of material around the network can be provided on this foundation of trusted data.

Adam Cartwright, Industry Strategy Director for Water and Wastewater at Siemens, explained: "If you think of the water sector, the infrastructure is designed to last 20 to 50 years and we drink water from pipes that were laid before the internet was created.

"You can't manage what you can't measure so having the right physical measurements in the right place is important for every digital project in an industrial environment."

3. Use a generative AI copilot to interrogate data

We've seen that the water sector is generating enormous amounts of data from millions of smart meters. And turning that information into actionable insights is a huge challenge.

Anomaly-detection AI pinpoints problems and issues alerts; GenAI can then review each alert — noting the time and place of each issue — and place that insight into a wider context alongside other data sources.

A GenAI copilot enables operators to "have a conversation" with their data. They can ask natural-language questions like:

• "Where are the most likely leaks this week?"
• "Show me the trend in water quality over the past month."

The true power of a GenAI copilot is when it can interrogate data from multiple systems. Bringing into its analysis operating procedures, product sheets, regulations, maintenance records and more, pulling everything together into a single, contextualized answer. This is what makes data truly conversational.

This video, filmed at NWG's Innovation Festival, demonstrates how combining GenAI with industry expertise and user knowledge can deliver powerful results.

Hear Siemens experts, including Adam Cartwright and Anja Eimer, General Manager of Siemens' Global Water Business, alongside industry leaders like Angela MacOscar, Head of Innovation at NWG, talk about how they are collaborating to drive innovation and discover new solutions for the industry.