‘Flow-Sense AI’ was a solution put forward by team ‘Alternative Engineers’, a group of University of the Sunshine Coast students during ‘GovHack’, a 46-hour open government data competition held at the university in September.
Unitywater Executive Manager Customer Experience Katherine Gee said the utility’s challenge asked participants to use 10 years’ worth of water quality data to find ways AI could improve environmental governance and water testing processes.
“We’ve been so impressed with the entries for our challenge and Flow-Sense AI was a standout submission that provides a game-changing and community-centric approach to water quality insights,” she said.
“We’re always looking at ways of doing things better and are committed to protecting and enhancing our local waterways.”
David Khoury from the Alternative Engineers team, said sensors in the river would link to a quality score and be represented by colours on a map.
“Users can click on any section of the river to view detailed information from the nearest sensor, including individual parameters like pH and ammonia, which are color-coded based on their proximity to optimal levels,” he said.
“The AI can detect significant changes in water quality and trigger alerts, pinpointing the affected location on the map. By analysing current data against historical trends, the system can recommend control measures to help achieve consistent optimal water quality.”
Team mate Logan Arnold said the application would help improve water quality management by providing real-time monitoring without human intervention, while providing historical data to identify trends and patterns in water quality parameters.
“Predictive extrapolation through the use of AI can also be used to predict future water quality levels,” he said.
Mr Arnold said the team, also made up by Samuel Kropp and Hayden Kernick, was passionate about using their engineering knowledge and skills to support their community and the environment and was thrilled with the win.
“Winning this challenge has felt very uplifting and rewarding,” he said.
“We are grateful that opportunities such as those provided through Unitywater and GovHack exist, allowing students to apply themselves beyond individual study. This challenge has helped us become more inspired and eager to utilise our engineering capabilities for the improvement of society.”
Ms Gee said Unitywater would now take the Flow-Sense AI idea and put it through the utility’s innovation process to investigate viability.
