Change is good

I just got done spending a great weekend in Boston. I booked and checked in to a hotel using my phone. I used Uber to leverage the GPS in my phone to drive me around. I checked the weather and the forecast to figure out what to pack and whether I needed to wear a hat and gloves. Bought my kids Chrismast presents (shhh...don't tell them even Santa needs a little help) at the mall while checking prices online. I'm writing this blog post from the train with wifi while paying some bills and putting together a to-do list that will sync across any device or web browser I might use. It's all pretty amazing.

Why don't most water utilities operate with this kind of flexibility? Most water utility staff cannot operate in real time. They cannot walk in to a meeting with their tablet, pull up SCADA trends, message other staff, issue a work order, review work that is pending, cross reference customer complaints with flushing activities, or look at the hydraulic effects of a shutdown.

Now don't get me wrong, people can figure out how to do these tasks separately, just not quickly, affordably, and with mobility and interoperability. The things we do in our private life just are not happening in the smart water space...yet.

Sedaru and the team at IDModeling are changing how water utilities operate. The Sedaru clients are making this a reality and I'm excited to now be part of that team as Senior Account Manager. I'm looking forward to us all working together to see what happens next.

Water Main Break in Manchester, NH

Check out this article: http://m.wcvb.com/news/major-manchester-water-main-break-leads-to-evacuations/29590492

It still surprises me to find water utilities telling the media that they don't know who was affected by a water main break.  Using GIS and modeling this should be straightforward.

We'll keep pushing to get the right technology into people's hands to solve this problem.