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Best water utility intelligence platform

Published October 11, 20263 min read
Milvian AI teamFacilities and infrastructure intelligence
Aerial view of treatment basins

A utility needs a platform that turns SCADA and meter data into a water balance by district, a cost per cubic meter pumped, and a ranked list of losses. Control stays with SCADA.

Why a network is a hard case

A water utility moves treated water through pumping stations, reservoirs and thousands of kilometers of pipe to meters it reads monthly or quarterly. The gap between water produced and water billed is non-revenue water: leaks, bursts, meter error and unbilled use. SCADA controls the network but rarely explains where that gap sits.

Energy is the other big line. EPA notes that drinking water and wastewater plants are often a city's largest energy users, at 30 to 40 percent of the energy a municipality consumes, and that efficiency practices can save 15 to 30 percent.

What the platform must do

RequirementWhy it matters hereAsk the vendor
Balance each district.Losses must be located before they are fixed.Can you run a balance per district metered area?
Price pumping energy.Energy per cubic meter shows inefficient pumps and schedules.Can you report kWh per cubic meter by station?
Follow treatment efficiency.Plant losses and energy belong in the same view.Do you track treatment plant inlet, output and efficiency?
Work beside SCADA.Control and safety stay with SCADA.How do you read SCADA without writing to it?

Standards and direction

The AWWA M36 water audit method is the common basis for non-revenue water reporting in North America, and several US states require validated audits. Prices are rising: US household water and sewer bills rose 5.1 percent in 2025 and 24.2 percent over five years. Water stress adds pressure: WRI projects 31 percent of global GDP will face high water stress by 2050.

How to evaluate one

  1. Pick two districtsOne with good metering and one with suspected losses.
  2. Close the balanceInflow against billed and estimated use, by day.
  3. Add pump energyMeter one pumping station and report energy per cubic meter.
  4. Rank the lossesPrice each by production cost and lost revenue.

Where Aqueduct fits

Aqueduct reads SCADA tags, bulk meters and pump power into aQ Core and leaves control with SCADA. aQ WaterGuard solves the balance per district and plant, with treatment inlet, output and efficiency on the same schematic, and aQ EnergySmart measures pumping energy and power factor per station. Findings route to the utility's work order system.

Sources

SourceLink
US EPA, Energy Efficiency for Water Utilitiesepa.gov
Bluefield Research via Water Online, 2026wateronline.com
World Resources Institute, Aqueduct 4.0, 2023wri.org
Questions

Questions about this topic

No. SCADA keeps control and alarms. Aqueduct reads SCADA tags alongside bulk meters, customer meters and bills, and adds the analysis SCADA does not do: balances by district, energy per cubic meter and a ranked list of losses. See utilities.

Aqueduct supplies the metered inputs, such as system input volume and billed consumption by period. The utility or its consultant completes and validates the audit in the AWWA method and files it where a state requires one. See AWWA M36.

Yes. Treatment plants and lift stations can be metered for flow and energy, and each plant's treatment performance appears beside its pump energy. Pump energy per unit treated shows which stations and schedules cost the most.

By putting a money value on each district's unexplained volume, using what the water cost to produce and what it would have earned, then sorting. Aqueduct computes the volume from the district balance, so crews start with the district where loss costs most. See non-revenue water.

See Aqueduct on your own facility.

Bring a site, a utility bill or a question. We will show you where the loss is.