Empowering water utilities with AWS: A cloud-first approach

The utility’s legacy on-premise infrastructure was costly and inflexible, limiting its ability to respond quickly to operational demands and data-driven decision-making. Reporting processes were fragmented, and data accessibility was constrained by siloed systems. As the sector faces growing demands for transparency, sustainability, and resilience, the need for integrated, real-time insights became critical.

NRI partnered with the utility to deliver a comprehensive transformation of its water data platform—an integrated system designed to centralise, analyse, and visualise water-related data across the entire supply chain. The platform supports:

• Operational Monitoring: Real-time tracking of bulk water production and consumption.
  Financial Management: Automated contract and billing calculations based on volumetric data.
• Demand Forecasting: Predictive modelling using population growth, climate data, and consumption trends.
  
• Decision Support: Scenario planning and optimisation tools for drought response and conservation strategies.
• Reporting & Compliance: Streamlined data sharing with regulators and internal stakeholders.

Migrating the platform to AWS enabled significant cost savings—over $100K in hosting costs—and introduced a high-availability architecture resilient to hardware and network faults.

The transformation of the water data platform delivered measurable improvements across operational efficiency, cost management, and data accessibility. By migrating to AWS and modernising its architecture, the utility unlocked new capabilities in real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, and automated reporting. These outcomes not only streamlined day-to-day operations but also positioned the organisation to respond more effectively to environmental challenges and regulatory demands.

Together, we delivered:

• Cloud Migration to AWS: Seamless transition from legacy infrastructure to a scalable, secure cloud environment.
• Cost Reduction: Achieved over $100K in annual infrastructure savings by eliminating on-premise hosting overheads.
• High Availability Architecture: Improved system resilience and fault tolerance across hardware and network layers.
• Enhanced Data Accessibility: Centralised data warehouse with automated ELT processes for faster, more flexible reporting.
• Operational Efficiency: Streamlined support and maintenance workflows, reducing reliance on physical data centre staff.
• Security Uplift: Enforced multi-factor authentication (MFA) and replaced legacy services with AWS-native solutions.
• Modular Expansion: Added new modules for contract management, volumetric tracking, consumption analysis, and forecasting.
• AI/ML Readiness: Initiated roadmap for advanced analytics, including predictive modelling and optimisation tools.
• Retailer Integration: Laid the foundation for more dynamic data exchange with external water providers.