WWD on Machine Learning Benefits for Public Health
March 18, 2022 – Water & Wastes Digest published an article on the benefits of taking a machine learning approach to improving public health. The article “Machine Learning can identify harmful lead service lines and keep cities healthier” was written by Greg Baird. The reason utilities and their engineering partners can benefit from machine learning […]
Toledo Announces City-wide Lead Service Line Replacement Plan
March 8, 2022 – Toledo, Ohio Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, Director of Public Utilities Ed Moore, City Council member Nick Komives, and members of the City Water announced their plan to use $10 million in American Recovery Plan Act COVID-19 relief funding to replace all lead service lines in the city. The leadership of the […]
Video: Lead Service Line Predictions in Benton Harbor
March 8, 2022 – Scientific American just published a video “AI Helps Small City Pull Toxic Lead Water Service Lines from the Ground Faster“. Aaron Martin interviews Reverend Edward Pinkney, President of the Benton Harbor Community Water Council, and Ian Robinson, BlueConduit’s President and COO. View the video and transcript on the Scientific American website. […]
In the News: Lead Service Line Tech in Nikkei (Japan)
The Japanese newspaper Nikkei included BlueConduit’s lead service line platform in its February 25, 2022 review of technology supporting clean water. The article profiles several tech companies, including Google and Microsoft, that are backing water-oriented startups to solve many issues in source water protection, drinking water production, and water conservation, and of course, lead abatement. […]
Taking Inventory with BlueConduit
February 23, 2022 – Water Finance & Management published “Taking Inventory” covering the Lead and Copper Rule Revisions and Lead Service Line Inventory and Replacement. Read the full story on their site. The article includes this graphic from our Flint case study, showing the influence of statistical modeling on the replacement cost. To make the […]
Trenton Water Works LSLR featured in WaterOnline
Trenton Water Works’ Kristin Epstein, PE, talked Lead Service Line Removal (LSLR) with us in a recent Q&A on WaterOnline. Epstein is the Assistant Director of Water and Sewer at Trenton Water Works. Epstein shared with us why and how Trenton proactively tackled the issue and progress to date.WaterOnline: How Cities Leverage Machine Learning to […]
Video: LSL Inventory and Replacement on WWD Weekly Digest
Bob Crossen, Senior Managing Editor of Water & Wastes Digest spoke with BlueConduit’s National Lead(Pb) Service Line Inventory and Replacement Executive Director Greg Baird. From the Water & Wastes Digest article: “In this video interview, BlueConduit National Lead Service Line Inventory and Replacement Executive Director Greg Baird explains what utilities are currently required to do […]
Video: BlueConduit and Innovation Partnerships
January 2022 – The University of Michigan Research News featured BlueConduit and the University of Michigan’s Innovation Partnerships. The story, titled “Locating Lead: BlueConduit & Innovation Partnerships” featured BlueConduit co-founder Eric Schwartz and Kelly Sexton, the Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation Partnerships at the University of Michigan.
E&E News Greenwire on BlueConduit and the Lead and Copper Rule
Updated: Dec 26, 2021 In an article on the EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule and upcoming Federal funding for infrastructure, E&E News’ Hannah Northey quoted BlueConduit’s co-founder Eric Schwartz. The challenge for using the funding efficiently will be the uncertainty in the location of the lead service lines affecting people’s drinking water. “The fact that we […]
BlueConduit Named One of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2021
Updated: Nov 12, 2021 Each year, TIME highlights inventions that make the world better, smarter, and more fun. This year, the news organization selected BlueConduit’s predictive model technology to determine service line materials and limit lead exposure as one of the best inventions of 2021 in the sustainability category. BlueConduit’s proven data-driven technology helps cities and […]
Fast Company: We don’t know where all the lead pipes are. BlueConduit’s tool helps find them
Fast Company detailed how BlueConduit’s software helps address pressing questions that cities hoping to replace their lead services lines must confront, highlighting the recently announced Google.org-supported collaboration between BlueConduit, NRDC, and WE ACT for Environmental Justice. “When the city of Flint, Michigan, started to replace lead service lines in 2016—two years after mismanagement of the […]
BlueConduit and Google.org Announce Coalition to Help Communities Quantify and Locate Dangerous Lead
BlueConduit and Google.org Announce Coalition to Help Communities Quantify and Locate Dangerous Lead Service Lines BlueConduit will create machine learning tools to map service lines and inform communities of risks with $3 million grant from Google.org and support from WE ACT and NRDC (Mountain View, CA) September 28, 2021 –– Today, Google.org announced $3 million […]
Crain’s: BlueConduit sees growth opportunity with infrastructure bill
The $1 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure bill includes billions of dollars of funding for lead service line replacement. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to upgrade aging infrastructure. Crain’s Detroit Business published a story about how BlueConduit allows water systems to answer two critical questions when it comes to applying for funding and replacing their lead service […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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.”
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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 cities 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.
MLive: Flint replaces more lead pipes using predictive model, researchers say
MLive’s Zahra Ahmad describes how the city’s rate of finding lead or galvanized service lines increased from 15 to 70 percent when it switched back to using the model developed by Eric Schwartz and Jake Abernethy. The rate of finding lead or galvanized service pipes in Flint has increased 15 to 70 percent while using […]
University of Michigan: Using data science to manage the Flint Water Crisis
To assist in the Flint Water Crisis, University of Michigan’s Data Science team partnered with Flint and Google to design digital tools to help manage the ongoing water crisis.
