A growing need to coordinate aging water and wastewater infrastructure data is driving a new technology partnership between Burns & McDonnell and SewerAI. The collaboration is designed to help utilities use inspection information to identify rehabilitation priorities and develop capital investment plans.
Burns & McDonnell will deploy SewerAI’s Pioneer platform across its Water Group, while 1898 & Co., the business and technology consulting arm of Burns & McDonnell, will oversee implementation and make the platform available to utilities in the United States and Canada.
The partnership combines SewerAI’s data and artificial intelligence capabilities with Burns & McDonnell’s engineering methodologies and infrastructure cost information. The approach connects inspection findings with asset risk evaluations and rehabilitation planning.
SewerAI’s AutoCode technology will be used to analyze inspection footage and convert the information into condition data aligned with NASSCO standards. Pioneer also supports customized risk models and rehabilitation recommendations based on utility-specific inputs.
The collaboration will support utilities and municipalities in evaluating infrastructure conditions, prioritizing rehabilitation work and coordinating modernization programs. Burns & McDonnell and SewerAI will also develop customized risk and rehabilitation models for individual utility systems.
The organizations have already worked together for nearly three years. Burns & McDonnell selected SewerAI in 2023 for a wastewater infrastructure project involving a municipal utility operating under a federal consent decree.
Since then, the organizations have expanded their collaboration across additional utility projects. One effort has involved developing a customized risk model to assess infrastructure conditions and identify rehabilitation priorities. Another sewer project is using SewerAI’s AutoCode technology for inspection analysis and condition assessment.
The partnership also connects inspection information with engineering analysis and capital planning, giving utilities a structured process for moving from asset-condition data toward infrastructure investment decisions.
For utility owners, integrating inspection data, engineering analysis and capital planning can provide a more coordinated basis for determining rehabilitation needs. The Burns & McDonnell-SewerAI partnership brings those functions together through a technology-enabled workflow intended for municipal and utility infrastructure programs.
The collaboration also reflects the role of digital asset-management tools in water and wastewater infrastructure planning, particularly where utilities need to evaluate existing systems and prioritize capital resources.
Source: Burns & McDonnell.
