Beyond grey infrastructure: How AI and collaborative planning are reshaping wastewater system solutions

The water sector is striving to deliver on the ambitious spills targets and achieve broader wastewater performance commitments. Traditional planning approaches often focus on symptoms rather than root causes at catchment-level, typically defaulting to grey-infrastructure solutions. Given the scale of the investment in wastewater infrastructure, particularly in the storm overflow space, there's a better way forward.

Blue-Green Solutions becoming vital

Blue-green solutions are becoming increasingly vital, but identifying where, when, and how to implement them effectively requires a new collaborative and wholesystems approach to planning.

Our Decisio Wastewater Systems Digital Business Twin is changing the game by:

• Creating whole-system, connected views of wastewater network of assets, catchment geo-urban characteristics and system outcomes
• Identifying priority catchments where coordinated interventions can reduce spills across multiple storm overflows and have greater impact on multiple drivers
• Using AI and advanced analytics to discover optimal combinations of traditional and blue-green solutions

The result? Investment plans that balance innovative blue-green solutions with traditional infrastructure, delivering better outcomes while creating vital headroom for delivery.

The future of wastewater infrastructure isn't about choosing between grey or green - it's about using intelligent and collaborative planning tools to identify the right solutions in the right places.