The City of Hamilton, Ontario, home to one of Canada’s oldest and most complex water distribution systems, serving over 560,000 residents, has launched a pilot program using hydrant.AI, developed by Digital Water Solutions, to monitor pressure, detect leaks, and safeguard water quality in real time.
Hamilton’s network is split into upper and lower elevations by the Niagara Escarpment, making consistent pressure difficult to maintain across its 24 pressure districts. With roughly 35% of pipes over 70 years old, the city needed continuous, granular visibility that manual pressure logging and SCADA checkpoints couldn’t provide.
How the Pilot Works
hydrant.AI sensors were installed on the lower valve of 14 dry-barrel hydrants across six pressure districts (PD 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, and 16). Mounting sensors at the lower valve keeps them functional through winter freeze conditions and preserves normal hydrant operation during fire response.
Each sensor samples pressure, transients, temperature, and noise, feeding a machine learning platform that correlates readings with the City’s GIS, SCADA, and customer metering data, turning raw signals into actionable cause-and-effect insight.
Results from the Field
- Transient diagnosis: In PD6, hydrant.AI traced recurring pressure surges to a pump tripping from incoming power sags — data the city used to target corrective action rather than guess at the cause.
- Leak detection: In PD5, the platform identified two non-surfacing leaks within a month of installation, using AI-learned leak “fingerprints” to estimate distance from the sensor and give crews a location to investigate before the leaks escalated.
- Root-cause analysis: In PD16, flow data linked two December watermain breaks to a SCADA auto-mode pumping response, giving operations the evidence to intervene manually and stabilize the system.
- Seasonal water quality management: The same sensors track temperature to guide chlorine-residual flushing in summer and flag freeze-risk service lines in winter.
Hamilton’s watermain breaks have already dropped from a 296/year average (2013–2022) to 188 in 2023, with continued improvement anticipated, a trend the city attributes to a combination of infrastructure investment and, increasingly, the proactive insight hydrant.AI provides.
What’s Next
Hamilton is forming a dedicated working group to act on the pilot’s findings, including reviewing pressure district boundaries, exploring variable frequency drives at pumping stations, and using real-time data to calibrate hydraulic models and digital twins.
“By continuously monitoring water temperature, the hydrant.AI technology helps us respond dynamically to seasonal challenges, safeguarding water quality and reliability year-round.”
— Peter Nikolica, Superintendent, Water Distribution, City of Hamilton
