American City & County: Lead-Free Challenge
Five municipalities across the US have been selected by the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) for a lead pipe replacement program. These cities will receive assistance spanning technical resources, introductions to funders and guidance as part of EPIC’s Lead-Free Water Challenge. According to American City & County: Approximately 11,000 communities across the country have lead […]
Helping Detroit Get the Lead Out
Helping Detroit Get the Lead Out: Kresge Foundation Promotes Efficient and Equitable Lead Abatement Efforts by Supporting the Use of BlueConduit’s Machine Learning Technology Ann Arbor, MI – June 3, 2021 – The Kresge Foundation has awarded BlueConduit a grant to help the Detroit Water & Sewage Department (DWSD) improve the efficiency and equitability of […]
Flyover Future: BlueConduit tech stems a public health crisis
In a conversation with Flyover Future, our managing director, Ian Robinson, talked about how BlueConduit’s technology is helping cities accelerate their lead service line replacement programs How does machine learning detect where the lead pipes are located? Robinson: We train a model based on what the cities have in terms of verified data. That data […]
BlueConduit and The Rockefeller Foundation partner
The Rockefeller Foundation and BlueConduit Partner to Improve Community Health by Developing Efficient and Cost-Effective Lead Service Line Replacement Programs Ann Arbor, MI – April 1, 2021 – Leveraging the power of machine learning, BlueConduit, a water analytics company, and The Rockefeller Foundation have partnered to increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of lead service line […]
Federal Funding Sources
In recent weeks, the Federal Government has identified various funding opportunities for water infrastructure projects with an emphasis on lead abatement. BlueConduit can support your effort to access federal funding for lead service line inventory and replacement. The following federal programs are in various stages of review and approval. Updates on their status are available […]
Michigan CDSMI
Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, Drinking Water, and Environmental Health Division (EGLE) released its Complete Distribution System Materials Inventory (CDSMI) Overview and Minimum Service Line Material Verification Requirements. As part of its guidance, EGLE says “Water supplies are not expected to physically verify every service line, but rather a statistically sound subset. […]
Video: City of Toledo and BlueConduit
Updated: Feb 23 March, 2021 – Patekka Bannister, Commissioner of Plant Operations at the City of Toledo, Ohio, and BlueConduit’s Ian Robinson spoke with CG/LA’s Norman F. Anderson. They discussed how the City of Toledo is Fighting Lead Lines with AI. Highlight We want to make sure that with BlueConduit’s help, we’re maximizing our resources. We […]
BlueConduit in Water Online: How the New Lead and Copper Rule Could Impact You
EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Revisions will put increased oversight on water utilities when the rules come into effect. BlueConduit co-founders Eric Schwartz and Jake Abernethy wrote a column in Water Online about how these revisions will impact water utilities and steps that utilities can take today to be ready for the rule’s implementation. Among […]
NPR Science Friday: BlueConduit’s algorithm helps cities find lead pipes
BlueConduit co-founder and U-M professor Eric Schwartz appeared on NPR’s Science Friday to discuss how his team works with cities to locate lead pipes. In the conversation Schwartz talked to NPR’s Ira Flatow and Freshwater Future’s Alexis Smith about the use of predictive models to locate lead service lines and the importance of community participation […]
Water Online: Statistical Modeling for LSL Inventory and Replacement a Top Water Trend in 2021
Updated: Apr 11, 2021 As part of its annual top 10 trends in water, Water Online included the use of statistical modeling for LSL inventory and replacement in its list for 2021. Given the importance of service line inventories in the Lead and Copper Rule revisions and increased public awareness about lead risks in drinking water, […]
Water Loop podcast on BlueConduit’s role in Flint replacement program
BlueConduit’s Jared Webb appeared alongside Ben Pauli and Mona Munroe-Younis to the Water Loop podcast to talk about the technical and community challenges in Flint’s pipe replacement program.
WIRED: BlueConduit and partners combine ML and community voices to Toledo’s replacement program
WIRED magazine wrote a feature about BlueConduit’s collaboration with the City of Toledo and Freshwater Future to help reduce lead exposure as part of an EPA environmental justice grant. “Balancing tech and community perspectives is essential.”
Federal Lead and Copper Rule Revisions
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its first major revision to the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) on December 16, 2021. The new LCR prioritizes protecting children from the dangers of lead exposure and introduces changes designed to expedite the removal of lead from drinking water in the most at-risk communities across the country. Service […]
BlueConduit and EPIC analyze patterns in EPA Lead and Copper Rule public comments
Data Science for Lead Service Line Inventories Whitepaper
Principles of Data Science for Lead Service Line Inventories and Replacement Programs Water systems face many challenges as they work to become Lead and Copper Rule Revision compliant. There’s a lot of uncertainty in service line records. Without knowing the count and location of lead service lines, water systems cannot plan efficient removal plans. […]
BlueConduit featured among record number of start-ups from U-M
U-M Office of Technology Transfer is celebrating the 31 start-ups that it helped launch this year. They highlighted BlueConduit as one of this year’s notable companies. U-M inventors went to market with a wide range of discoveries, including those from a company using machine learning predictive modeling to help cities like Flint replace their lead-tainted […]
Cronicle Press highlights BlueConduit’s AI solution
Cronicle Press recently profiled BlueConduit’s efforts to help Flint complete its service line replacement program, highlighting how the company’s AI solution can help other cities facing uncertainty in their drinking water infrastructure. How do you replace all the lead pipes in Flint when you don’t know how many there are? It’s a problem now faced […]
Flint Service Line Map, powered by BlueConduit, Highlights Progress and Remaining Work
Updated: Apr 11, 2021 Throughout the Flint water crisis, residents have continually called for better access to information regarding the safety of drinking water in their own homes. As the City works to complete the pipe replacement project by the end of the year, BlueConduit is excited to announce the release of the Flint Service Line […]
BlueConduit presented at OmniSci Virtual Summit on April 30, 2020
BlueConduit discussed “Visualizing and Communicating the Water Pipe Replacement Program Progress in Flint, Michigan” on 4/30 at part of OmniSci’s Virtual Summit. Jared Webb and Eric Schwartz of BlueConduit will present alongside Stacy Woods from NRDC. In this session, they discussed how a predictive algorithm helped the City of Flint focus their service line (water […]
BlueConduit to appear on ASDWA webinar
Updated: Apr 11, 2021 BlueConduit is excited to join the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators and Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative’s webinar on the use of predictive modeling for lead service line inventories. Eric Schwartz will be presenting alongside Michigan EGLE”s Eric Oswald to talk about the use of predictive modeling in Michigan. The webinar […]
PBS documentary highlights BlueConduit’s Flint impact
A recent documentary by PBS NOVA showcases the work that BlueConduit’s team did in Flint to use machine learning to help the city target inspection and replacements to areas of highest likelihood of having a lead service line.
BlueConduit’s impact in Flint
Beginning in 2016, our team began collaborating with Flint city officials. We demonstrated that we could create a model to accurately generate estimates of homes needing service line replacement. We provided home-by-home predictions indicating which homes were most likely to have lead service lines. This would eventually guide the largest and most prominent water service line […]
BlueConduit comments on EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule Revisions
Our organization is committed to achieving a lead-free drinking water system through evidence-based decision-making. To that end, we submitted the comments regarding the EPA’s proposed modifications to the Lead and Copper Rule. Based on our team’s experience guiding the lead service line replacement project in Flint and our expertise in data science, our comments can […]
MLive: Flint replacement progress moves forward, thanks to BlueConduit team’s work
With more than 1,000 Flint residences still needing lead service line replacements, an MLive story this week shows how the predictive algorithm of Eric Schwartz, Jake Abernethy, and Jared Webb is helping the city locate those homes. One of the key points from this week’s article that has affected the city’s overall hit rate is […]
BlueConduit statement for U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
Statement for the record provided by BlueConduit to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight October 15, 2019 Dear Chairwoman Sherrill and Ranking Member Norman: Ending the ongoing public health crisis created by lead service pipes requires identifying the pipes most likely to pose a risk […]
Jacob Abernethy and Jared Webb present Flint work at Bloomberg’s Data for Good Exchange
Prof. Jake Abernethy and Jared Webb presented at Bloomberg’s annual Data for Good Exchange in New York on September 15, 2019. They presented a case study for the effectiveness of machine learning for reducing lead service line replacement costs in Flint, Michigan. Watch the session recording: Read the paper: Getting the Lead Out: Data Science […]
WDET: Prof. Schwartz joins Detroit Today to talk about lessons other cities can learn from Flint
Eric Schwartz joined Stephen Henderson on WDET’s Detroit Today to talk about lessons Newark, Pittsburgh, and other cities can learn from the Flint Water Crisis and how to repair faulty water infrastructure before more communities face the same fate.
The Atlantic: How Machine Learning Found Flint’s Lead Pipes
A profile in The Atlantic describes how the algorithm developed by Eric Schwartz and Jacob Abernethy helped the city of Flint’s lead service line replacement program, led by B.G. (ret.) Michael McDaniel, find and efficiently replace the hazardous pipes. The article then details how the city’s replacement costs increased when the a private engineering firm […]
MLive: Webb talks about predictive model as Flint works to reach its goal
MLive’s Zahra Ahmad published an article with an update on the city’s progress toward its goal of removing all of its lead service lines. In the article, BlueConduit chief data scientist Jared Webb explains that a neighborhood with high amounts of predicted lead service lines has seen relatively few replacements. Service pipe work in Flint’s […]
NPR On Point: Prof. Schwartz talks about lessons from Flint for other cities
Eric Schwartz appeared on NPR’s On Point to talk about the lessons from his work in Flint can be applied to other cities.
