Case Study: Thames Water Utilities Ltd. reduces pollution incidents and flooding risk with IBM SPSS Modeler

Predictive modeling used to help protect the environment and save costs

Thames Water Utilities Ltd., a UK-based water utility company, faced the challenge of understanding the relationship between flooding and pollution incidents in its wastewater network. They needed to prevent environmental damage, avoid costly leakages, and reduce regulatory fines and negative publicity. To address this, they worked with IBM and its IBM SPSS Modeler software.

IBM implemented a predictive analytics model to analyze incident data and identify the utility holes most at risk of flooding and causing pollution. This allowed Thames Water to perform targeted preventive maintenance on these specific access points. The solution delivered significant results for the customer, including a tenfold increase in identification precision. IBM’s model is expected to prevent approximately 120 pollution incidents and generate estimated annual financial benefits of USD 4.7 million through reduced fines.

Thames Water Utilities Ltd