Digital Water Solutions is proud to be recognised in the American Water Works Association’s (AWWA) 2026 Water Heroes series, alongside the City of Hamilton, Ontario. The feature highlights how hydrant.AI is being applied to real operational challenges in water distribution, from hidden leak detection to pressure management and non-revenue water reduction.
Finding the leaks that can’t be seen
In many distribution systems, a surface leak provides a visible signal for investigation. In Hamilton, that signal often never appears. Underground infrastructure failures can persist for years without surfacing, contributing to non-revenue water loss, unnecessary energy use, and accelerating asset deterioration.
Hamilton has been managing approximately 2.5 million cubic metres of non-revenue water annually. Addressing that scale of loss required more than reactive repair cycles, it required earlier detection, smarter prioritisation, and better visibility into how the system was behaving at any given time.
From leak detection to pressure intelligence
Hamilton’s initial work with AI-supported leak detection opened a broader operational question: how can a utility better understand the system conditions that contribute to water loss, pressure changes, and hidden risk?
That question led to expanded work on pressure and transient capture. By identifying AI-flagged locations for field investigation, hydrant.AI helped Hamilton’s operators, engineers, and crews focus their resources where they were most likely to make an impact, rather than relying solely on traditional surface-based methods.
Results from Hamilton
In one notable case, hydrant.AI pinpointed a location where Hamilton’s field team identified a ring break that may have been leaking for years without detection. Without the additional intelligence the platform provided, the failure may not have been discovered through traditional methods alone.
What this work represents
AI is no longer a distant concept for water utilities. As the AWWA 2026 Annual Conference made clear, it is becoming a practical operational tool for teams managing real system pressures today.
Hamilton’s progress reflects a broader movement toward proactive, data-informed utility operations. As utilities continue to face aging infrastructure, complex system conditions, and increasing efficiency expectations, better visibility is becoming essential, not aspirational.
Digital Water Solutions is proud to support the City of Hamilton as it advances leak detection, pressure management, and operational excellence.
