Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Dave lynch, the CEO of Clear and you're listening to the Water Values Podcast. The Water Values Podcast is sponsored by the following market leading companies and organizations by 1898 and company possibilities Powered by Experience by Woodard and Curran. High Quality Consulting Engineering Science and Operations Services by Entera Innovation and Stewardship for a Sustainable Tomorrow by Xylem. Let's Solve Water by the American Waterworks Association. Dedicated to the World's Most Important Resource by Black and Veatch. Building a World of difference by 120 water. New rules need New Tools by Suez Digital Solutions.
Optimizing Water by IDE Water Technologies, your partner in water treatment and sustainable desalination for six decades and by Advanced Drainage Systems. Our Reason is Water.
This is session 281.
Welcome to the Water Values Podcast. This is the podcast dedicated to water utilities, resources, treatment, reuse and all things water. Now here's your host, Dave McGimpsey.
Hello and welcome to another session of the Water Values Podcast. As my daughter Sarah said, my name is Dave McGimpsey and thank you for joining me and thank you for your support over the last 11 plus years. Now, we've got a terrific show for you this month. Hip Lee, the CEO of the Turing AI Corporation, which I'll shorten to just Turing. I hope that's okay. Hip. Well, Hip is here to address transformative digital water issues and AI. And he explains even how small utility systems can realize ROI through investing in digital technologies. He goes through a lot of information and he has some great insights, so you're really going to find value in hearing Hip's wisdom.
Also, Reece Tisdale joins us for a Bluefield on Tap segment that digs into what else? Only the biggest story to hit the water sector in October, the American Water Essential Utilities merger. So buckle up.
But before we get to today's conversations, we always say thank you to our awesome sponsors at the top of every show.
Our sponsors for 2025 are 1898 & Co, Woodard & Curran, Entera Xylem, the American Waterworks Association, Black and Veatch 120 Water, Suez Digital Solutions, IDE Water Technologies and Advanced Drainage Systems. And that, my friends, is a terrific collection of impactful companies that have affirmatively decided to support water industry thought leadership and education. And I thank you all and I'd like for you to do me a favor, if you would, please. If you work for or with any of those sponsors, please, please thank your boss or thank your contact at the sponsor firm and let them know that you appreciate their leadership in the industry through the sponsorship, you'd be surprised how far that simple little note of thanks will go.
And as long as you're letting the sponsors know you appreciate their support of water industry education and thought leadership, why not leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or whatever other podcast directory you're accessing the podcast on? It'd be greatly appreciated and of course helps others find out about the podcast. And please don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. Yes, just go ahead and click that little button.
Well, before we head on to the interview with Hip, we've got a Bluefield on Tap segment with Bluefield Research's Reece Tisdale. So take it away, guys.
Reece, welcome back to another Bluefield on Tap. How you doing this month?
[00:03:33] Speaker B: I am pretty good. Pretty good. I'm in California. I've been in the California Water association meeting and as you know, I'm a morning person. So it's early in the morning and I'm ready to roll.
[00:03:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Even though you're in the west coast, you're still on east coast time, right?
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Well, there is huge news in the water industry and I'll let you, I'm not going to steal your thunder other than saying that it's huge news, but tell us what's going on.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: So when I was flying out here on Monday, there was, there were some, it's a ripples in the water over the weekend, I think, for, you know, for us. And what's ended up happening is American Water has acquired essential utilities. And I think you and I, we work a lot with investor in utilities. We know a lot about it. So definitely for this conversation, it's really interesting, I think. But American Water, it's big. And everybody says how big American is going to be. American was already big, quite honestly.
But this does add 33. It increases its connection count by 33%. So it's pretty significant deal across the water sector in the utility space.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: There's a number of interesting aspects of all this. I saw one statistic that 40% of the rate base for the combined utility will be in Pennsylvania. I'm just kind of curious about is that, does that present risk? Does that, how do you, how do you view that?
[00:05:10] Speaker B: Well, I mean, that's interesting. That's one of our takes. I think it's the scale, like I said, it was already big. I mean, I'll put in perspective. So we track investor in utilities and they're about, what is it, 9.3 million connections owned by the top 20 investor owned utilities, American Water will now make up 50% of that.
So that's how big they are among these utilities. And just for first time listeners investor in utilities, these top 20, they make up about 5% of the, of the connections or population served in the US does it present risk? I think it does. I think the scale, what it does is it one removes some competition, particularly in Pennsylvania where both are well entrenched and I think they're already facing pushback. There's legislation being proposed in Pennsylvania pushing back on fair market value legislation.
So instead of being able to point at two different entities, now I think the public, regulators, politicians will point at one. And I think it, I think it may create some headaches and hopefully not, hopefully it doesn't go even beyond American water. I mean I think that the private sector, if you will, these private entities, I think with things like social media and just public pushback, people are more emboldened than ever.
I think it could create headwinds and that's a sort of concern on the backside.
[00:06:49] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
Also it allows, I would assume American to leverage knowledge in treating pfas and lead lead service line issues.
Do you have any takes on, on how they might leverage their, their newfound strength there?
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Yeah, there's no doubt. I mean I think first and foremost it's just, you know, capital access to capital, lower cost of capital.
I think they can also spread, you know, the rate base becomes, I mean it's kind of amazing if I, you know, you know, it's a $41 billion rate base.
I think that was the number I was like. So it's pretty significant they can spread these costs across larger number of customers within the regulated within the states.
There are growing challenges I think. You know, so look, I think I was at the California Water association this week and we were talking about things like water loss, right? These pro, we were talking about emerging contaminants and these challenges require money and so finding that money is not easy. And these IOUs in the case of American, they'll just have a broader rate base in Pennsylvania for example, that they can spread it across so it's cheaper per customer ideally. But then you know, they do have the scale, the experience and they are regulated so they, someone is looking over their shoulder. That's not always the case for municipal utilities, quite honestly. And they oftentimes, even when it comes to things like water loss and leakage rates across the US on average they do better than even the large municipal utilities who do well. But the IOUs do slightly better in that case. So, yeah, there are benefits of scale.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: Yeah, I think there's a lot to be said for, for the regulation.
The other thing I note is, is I think that the scale also allows for them. And maybe you mentioned access to capital and municipalities or municipal utilities. With the scaling back of the state revolving funds, municipalities aren't going to be able to be as addicted to cheap capital. And so that seems to me to present an opportunity for the investor owns to, to kind of come in and solve some problems for municipals.
[00:09:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that's a really good point. I mean, that's something we've talked about is. Yeah, I think money is going to get harder and harder to come by. And you know, I also think that it'll be interesting to see what does it mean for the now other 18 or 19 investor owns. Right. You know, there has been some large consolidations we've seen over the past couple years, whether it be Southwest and Coryx merging. We saw SJW or San Jose in Connecticut a while back. We did just see eversource divest. But what does this mean for the others? Do they feel, you know, some of them are publicly traded and do they feel some incentive to look for other iou, you know, merger opportunities? Well, it'll be interesting to see what happens. I mean, this is a much the state footprint goes, you know, goes to 17 or 18 states now for Americans. So they are.
There's close to a national water utility as you can find.
[00:10:35] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm curious if the, the access to capital that you mentioned helps fuel that expansion to additional markets.
[00:10:43] Speaker B: Oh, 100, I think so. It's a, you know, but they typically, you know, there is a lot of horse trading that happens within this community. You know, they're insiders. They've seen it. They will trade off. I think even, you know, they had bought Liberty Utilities had acquired from Americans several years ago and think even American is buying some positions from Southwest. Just, I think was it this year or late last year? I can't remember. But yeah, it's. It's a big deal. Everybody within the water community is watching it and it'll be interesting to see how it will unfold. It'll take a little while to sort of go through the regulatory process, but I suspect it's going to happen as a whole. And then the question is where to go from there. Does it present an opportunity for a larger, maybe even an outsider look at them and say that's the real scale. We've talked about power companies, gas companies, Energy companies looking at the water sector because of its infrastructure, its capital needs.
I don't know. We'll see where this goes. It's really interesting, though.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: Very good. All right, well, Reece, thanks so much for getting up early out on the west coast and we'll talk to you again next month in a full length episode, year end episode in December.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: Fantastic. All right, Dave, we'll talk soon.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: All right, bye.
As always, great information from Bluefield Research and Reese Tisdale.
Now it's time for the main event, our interview with touring CEO Hip Lee. So let's get that water flowing.
Well, Hip, welcome to the Water Values podcast. Great to have you on. How are you today?
[00:12:22] Speaker C: I'm doing well. Thank you for having me, David.
[00:12:25] Speaker A: Absolutely.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's, it's, it's great to have you here and I know there's a significant time difference here in Singapore, right?
[00:12:33] Speaker C: That's correct.
[00:12:34] Speaker A: So we, I appreciate you staying up late to talk with me, so thank you so much.
[00:12:40] Speaker C: No worries.
[00:12:42] Speaker A: Hip, could you start off by giving us a little thumbnail on your background and how you came to the water sector to begin with?
[00:12:50] Speaker C: Yes, water has been essential, I guess, survival to my life.
Starting as a young child, about 8 years old in the 80s, going through the journey of a refugee, you know, post the Vietnam War. So jumping on a fishing boat, a small fishing boat containing 150 people and trying to find more, I guess, greener pastures to grow and prosper.
So we were surrounded by sea and it was quite a perilous journey.
We ran out of drinking water. We're surrounded by seawater, of course, plenty of water, but not drinkable.
So that was quite an experience.
Fortunately, we got rescued and brought to Singapore and then from on we were able to immigrate into Australia. So I grew up in Australia and Australia is one of the, I guess, waters, drought country in the world.
It often has droughts. And I was living in South Australia, which is very, you know, prone to droughts over its cycle. So water has been sort of critical, you know, growing up and then having a career, you know, starting about 27 years ago in water.
So it's both becoming, I guess, professional and personal from the water perspective of my life.
[00:14:20] Speaker A: Well, that, that's, that's absolutely fascinating and, and Hip, congratulations for you on, on the successful immigration journey into Australia, because the best man at my wedding was also a Vietnamese immigrant in, into the, into the United States.
And we'd heard stories, he had kind of told us bits and pieces. But recently we were all kind of Gathering and he told us his immigrant story, how he was, his family was separated for a while and then they finally got back together. I mean it was fascinating.
And so I have a lot of respect for the journey that your parents took with you when you were, when you were younger that it's not an easy, not an easy thing. So.
[00:15:09] Speaker C: No, no, certain. Certainly teaches you resilience.
There is also resilience factors.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: So, you know, you, you mentioned the, the, the boat trip and scarcity of drinking water, not only on the boat trip but, but through droughts in, in South Australia.
How has that kind of shaped your worldview of water?
[00:15:34] Speaker C: I guess through that. I think I've been educated that you know, you, you treat water more than a God given right because you know, we, we treat say power, electricity as something we, you know, pay for and respect and I guess cherish when we, you know, have a power outage. But I don't see people understanding, you know, how water comes about to the tap as much as the power and other sort of essentials of life side.
So that's taught me, you know, through the work of building different water treatment plants from municipal supplying drinking water to industrial for recycling and preventing, you know, highly polluted water discharge into the environment.
So it's shown me the, I guess the water life cycle and how important it is to protect and cherish.
So it's been key in I guess the benefits having a career in water. Then you learn that a bit more. And it's also satisfying to better supply drinking water to say a malt town in south, in say in Australia. It just brings a lot of satisfaction when you know, you see water people actually in towns having access to clean water.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
So where are you in the water sector now? How.
Because I don't think we've gotten to the point where you're, I'm obviously speaking with you on the Water Values podcast. So what do you, what are you doing in water today?
[00:17:19] Speaker C: Yeah, it's blending my water treatment and design sort of operation experience with the technology side. So even growing up, I love building computers. I also enjoyed programming in the olden days ncc.
So now having merging the two sort of domain knowledge, you say, and different forms of technology.
I'm sort of bringing about or developing a operational intelligence platform with Turing AI Corporation to guess change how we operate and maintain water facilities.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: Perfect. So when you talk about this goal to change how we operate water infrastructure and facilities, kind of what's the lens you're looking at or what's the lever you're pulling to implement that change.
[00:18:25] Speaker C: I think there's a few important levers. One is the data you get from your systems like scada, cmms, your purchasing, your sort of operating cost systems like erps, and then also the experience from the domain knowledge on the process engineering, the instrumentation and controls.
So those are the critical inputs to be able to turn that into actionable insights that the operation and maintenance team can act upon, to be proactive rather than the reactive approach that we've had for many years just operating SCADA systems and waiting for alarms to occur. A lot of times by then it's too late to act on it and you have, I guess, issues with compliance with performance inefficiencies.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: Right. And so in terms of harnessing the data and using that data to drive decision making, how do you see data fitting into that puzzle?
[00:19:50] Speaker C: I think it's quite important, the value of that water data.
As engineers, we want, you know, to operate, design, operate and maintain the facilities so that we, you know, derive maximum conversion from our source water.
We want to get the lowest kilowatt hour per cubic meters of energy consumption. We want, you know, the lowest kilograms per cubic meters of chemicals. We also want to be able to, you know, spend the least amount of hours operating the facilities.
And also lastly, you know, we want to have the minimum number of compliance and risk events, you know, such as out of spec water quality.
So as, as engineers, I believe, you know, being able to harness, harness the data in our systems to drive those metrics is, is critical in, you know, having a resilient water sort of system.
[00:20:53] Speaker A: Data often is junk in, junk out.
How do you look at making sure that the data that you're basing your decisions on is good quality data?
[00:21:10] Speaker C: Yeah, that's quite an important question you raise, David. I think there's a few aspects to the, you know, what quality data one is to better, you know, connect all the sources of the silo data together. So we're talking about, you know, some manually recorded data from logbooks. You're talking about SCADA systems. You got the computer maintenance management system, the laboratory Information management system and the erp. So being able to connect that all together, you have, you can combine the source and then apply data analytics and AI algorithms to clean and process the data. And at the same time, using experience and of course the AI algorithms, you can also detect when there's a problem with your data itself because you've got, I guess, interrelationship between the different types of data, say from a flow to a pressure There needs to be a relationship because of hydraulics. A pump can only turn out a particular duty point with flows and pressure. So having the algorithm running in the background to do that, checking to give that insight, you know, when there's a problems occurring with the data, whereas with a starter, you know, they rely on threshold limits. So if you had someone just say an instrument faulted and they simulated that value at 300 cubic meters per hour for that whole time, the SCADA just sees that it can't act on that. Whereas if you had the analytics and AI, you can actually pick that up, you know, something is wrong here. You know, why is it always consistent and why is it not responding to pressure and other sort of parameters?
[00:23:03] Speaker A: Yeah, so I think you started to answer my next question, which is you've mentioned this Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition or SCADA on several occasions already in terms of getting beyond that. I mean it sounded like using the data to make those real time operation decisions rather than being reactive kind of how, you know, just in your words.
So I'm curious how, how we get beyond how, you know, how do we get beyond the SCADA system data usage and how do you make the transition from that reactive to that proactive approach?
[00:23:45] Speaker C: Yep, yeah, that's an important sort of journey to go towards.
I mean, like SCADA systems, we can make use of the real time data streaming through our programmable logic or control system where it's connected directly to the sensors.
So once we acquire that real time operating data, that can be down to every second frequency or intervals, we can harness that and use the AI algorithms to do the pattern recognition, whether seasonal or you know, the way upstream processes like a manufacturing or a network system operates with flows, pressures and other parameters. So once we get that in, then we turn that data into actionable insights. So there's, there's three test steps to actually doing that. One is to be proactive. One is you, you can detect anomalies. So anomalies can be positive or negative. So a negative anomaly is when something will become a problem or positive is when, yeah, we've got say much better conditions, say water quality has improved. So we can do something about that to optimize.
So first is detecting the anomalies. Second is really can we use past data and knowledge base and experience to better forecast ahead of time. So this is more than generally a minute ahead of time, up to months in some cases to be able to, with confidence actually to better see where that parameter is heading. So to do that you generally need a physics based Model say if we are operating a reverse osmosis part, we have a physics based RL model that when you feed it all its inputs, it can predict okay at this point in its cycle or this length of time ahead. This is how it should operate based on the changing inputs. And once you forecast that, then you can step on towards predicting as well. So with forecasting you get to a certain level of confidence in the range that you can forecast. But with prediction you even get closer to say, okay, in this point in future I can see my reverse osteos membrane will fail to this condition. Then you can actually stay ahead of the game, anticipate and then act to plan that maintenance event or that change in set points or any other sort of optimization actions you can do.
[00:26:38] Speaker A: Interesting. So we have not really gone on identified say utility level use of data versus private industry or you know, like an industrial pretreatment program or an industrial treatment program for what a chip manufacturer might use to get its purified ultra pure water.
Are there differences between how a municipal utility would run versus how these industrial systems run?
[00:27:16] Speaker C: Yes, certainly. It's a good question.
In terms of focus, the industrial first, the industrial has quite a variety of different water quality on the influence and also different affluent or treated water requirements depending on the industry.
Like you mentioned, we the semiconductor industries, you know, one its biggest water user is ultra pure water source where you know, you're getting close to, you know, very ionic, you know, very low ionic levels of mostly contaminants.
So for that, you know, the treatment scheme is quite advanced, requiring multiple, I guess membrane and electrochemistry barrier to get to those levels.
So that's sort of one different aspect is the level of treatment required more extensive.
On the wastewater side of industrial again there's a lot of varying requirements and you have quite a wide range of contaminants from not just the organic level that organic soil contaminants you see in municipal, but a lot of the heavy metals and the ionic species like which we see in life in a salt, sodium chloride or sodium sulfate for example. So that combined together it's quite a interesting challenge to design for every facility. And most facility also has a process water production and then that through their production process turns into wastewater and then that can be treated further to recycle back to the source water. So there's a lot of, in industry there's a lot of recycling. You know, some, some industries like semiconductor, you know, one of the leading semiconductor company has, you know, at least 85% recycling within their facility.
So that, that's one aspect on the municipal side, the, the main differences are you've got more extensive, you know, networks and after you produce the drinking water, you need to distribute that to the cities and the houses.
And also when it becomes gray water or used water, wastewater, it needs to be collected in the collection system through the sanitary sewers, the lift station, et cetera. So you got a much wider geographic base for both the networks, the pipelines as well as the treatment plants, from drinking water to wastewater. And you know, the, in terms of the variability of the water, it's, it's more regional based rather than a specific, you know, certain requirements for, you know, certain, I guess, municipal type of usage.
[00:30:19] Speaker A: Got it. So I've, I've also heard people talk about geofencing. Can you talk a little about what geofencing is and how data can help help with that issue?
[00:30:28] Speaker C: Yeah, one of the interesting use case that we have, and it's pretty prevalent in the, I guess the developed countries like us and Australia, the dial before you dig sort of aspect. So we have an application in Singapore actually where we, we use that geofencing sort of technology very well by deploying high precision GPS to excavation equipment and then creating the algorithms against the GIS graphical information system map of all the underground pipelines and networks, as well as you can add in cables as well.
So together with the GIS map and the sensor for your positioning data, we are able to use that geofencing technology to protect the underground assets from being damaged by the construction equipment. So that's a relatively simple but important use case for geofencing that we've deployed.
[00:31:36] Speaker A: Interesting. So I've always been curious about, because I've talked a lot about the data and, and digital solutions on this podcast and I've always been curious about, obviously the bigger the utility, the bigger the savings that can be achieved through data. So the decision to move to an AI solution, a digital data driven solution, is bigger in a bigger utility because the savings are bigger, right?
[00:32:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:11] Speaker A: Where as you start going. And the vast majority of utilities, at least in the United States, are very small.
So how can the data, how can these digital solutions be used to make these smaller utilities?
Where's the, where's the threshold where it makes sense to stop using the analog solutions and move to a digital solution?
Do you have any opinion on the size of the utility needed or the revenues of the utility involved?
Or have you seen instances where this type of data that you're talking about has been a foundation for allowing utilities to regionalize it's just something that's been floating around. I know I didn't articulate that question very well, but it's just something that has been floating around in my head and I'm very curious about using data to help make our utilities more efficient.
Not just within a single utility, but over multiple utilities.
[00:33:22] Speaker C: Oh yeah. Now I like the way you're thinking David, and you're definitely right on the facts of most of the 50,000 plus utilities in the US the small to medium sized utilities and they have different progression of their digitization and AI deployment.
When we talk to these type of clients, they range from where, like you said, they're still operating analogs, they're still driving around, you know, observing manholes to see the level rather than having sensors to do that in, you know, real time and enable the prediction. So, so you've got, you know, that I guess the non digitization utilities to I guess the, even the smaller ones, some have been quite progressive. Like we're working with a utility in Massachusetts where they want to be an early adopter for this AI because they see the need not just for optimization, but being able to, you know, manage proactively their compliance, you know, because they're still relying a lot of paper logs and paper or spreadsheet calculations. So being able to digitize all that is already a value position.
So, so in terms of realizing value, you know, our, I guess they might reflect back to the industrial, our work in industrial, you know, for customers that want to optimize energy, chemicals mainly, you know, you need to have a certain capacity, size, plant and they tend to be at least, you know, 5 to 10,000 megalitres per day. So I mean that's in SI units to realize, you know, that good return on investment for spending on the, I guess the AI software platform. But in municipal, you know, you, you know, we need to consider the what say, just like the industrial, the what you can see is the tangible return on investment of energy chemicals and you know, the say, penalty savings from your non compliance. But there's also what you would see intangible where you need to study more, you know, the amount of time that you can save, you know, from the operations and maintenance team, the amount of, you know, spare parts and asset refurbishment you can save in the future. So those are the sort of more intangible that I guess people don't consider that can actually save. And then even you know, within the tangible side, you know, how, you know, how do you also put a value on the expertise and the knowledge of the operation and maintenance team as we're seeing the study from EPA and AWA saying that by 2030 we're going to see half the workforce retiring. So how do you put a value on that? When the experienced personnel retire and you have sort of lack of skilled labor coming in, what do you do then? What's the value of being able to provide a solution for that challenge?
So you need to consider all that together. And I believe that even the small utilities where they just digitize, say a collection system to better have real time data, to better predict when they can have blockages and then prepare for the maintenance ahead of time, that already can realize a lot of value for that particular utilities.
[00:37:07] Speaker A: Thank you very much. That's really interesting to me.
You mentioned the workforce issues that are coming up because one of the things I wanted to also talk about with you today was the fears of digitalization and job replacement with AI deployment. So can you talk a little bit about the anxiety that the sector might be feeling in terms of job loss from digitalization?
[00:37:33] Speaker C: Yes, yes, definitely. And I think part of that concern or anxiety is not understanding what the AI can do and can't do.
So our objective is really we're not automating the people out. We're actually wanting to elevate people's expertise by automating repetitive tasks. So, so the labor force can use their time more efficiently by doing more high value tasks, planning tasks, decision making tasks, using the AI insights that the platform such as Top Clear can deliver.
So actually I would say the concern and the bigger risk is actually losing expertise when the workforce silver generation retire or you get naturally, you know, with the operation maintenance team, you get retention issues because people want to move, get different experiences. So that's also a key risk, I would say, with the job, you know, job, I guess, employment aspect.
[00:38:46] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
So as long as we're looking ahead to the future, kind of. Can you, can you give your perspective on the future of the value of water?
[00:39:00] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I think as we educate and a lot of utilities are doing really great education, I guess programs, you've got pub, you've got Orange county water.
The bigger utilities are doing really good education in, you know, getting people to value water as more of a strategic asset. Not just, you know, you'll get build water and you just pay for it and then expect, you know, safe drinking water all the time and not, you know, being able to conserve water where possible and then, you know, to keep these strategic assets, you know, operating well and delivering the service that we all expect being able to digitize them, use the data efficiently and using all the reliable latest technology. Everybody's using AI to do other jobs. Why can't you use AI to operate these strategic assets?
Once you capture the data, how do you then infuse the expertise, the knowledge to be able to direct the AI algorithms to derive the value to make the water systems resilient and sustainable and, you know, cost effective for the long term.
So as we educate, we can move in from, you know, the reactive state to the proactive state and then eventually to the, you know, optimize that, you know, continuously that, that way, you know, I believe we can all enjoy water for, you know, the value it brings.
[00:40:47] Speaker A: Well, thanks so much, Hep. You've been absolutely phenomenal today.
I've learned a lot. I really enjoyed your perspective and I thought your perspective on the water sector is spot on.
So before we say goodbye, do you have a leave behind message you'd like to share with the listeners?
[00:41:06] Speaker C: Yes. I think it's important to guess with water or any other precious things in life, if we can measure the system that produces that particular precious thing, we can turn that into actionable items from the data and then be more in the proactive state rather than reactive state.
So to do that, I think we need to adapt to present day sort of technologies and unlock the value of that water data so that we can anticipate, act and optimize our water systems, whether it's an industrial facilities or a municipal network or collection system, or a treatment and reuse application itself. So it's important for us to think about that. And at the end of day, you know what, what we are trying to preserve is really knowledge and preserve the infrastructure that we spend so much capital expenditure to, to develop so that we can make, you know, every drop of water work harder and better, recycle, reuse and reduce, you know, the, the water usage.
[00:42:34] Speaker A: Great. Well hip. Again, thank you so much for coming on. Really appreciate your time. And for those who want to find out more about you and your work at touring, where can they go to get that information?
[00:42:44] Speaker C: Just go to our website, thetouringcompany.com and also our LinkedIn page.
We also have a Fluid Operation podcast that you can also watch YouTube and Spotify to really talk about real life stories of operations.
Head towards those, you know, the website thetouringcompany.com, our LinkedIn page and our Fluid Operations podcast to learn more.
[00:43:09] Speaker A: Great, thanks so much. And just for the listener's edification, the website is the touring T U R I n g company.com so Pip, again, thanks so much for coming on. Really appreciate your time and we'll talk to you again soon.
[00:43:26] Speaker C: Thank you David. I really enjoyed it.
[00:43:28] Speaker A: All right, great. Thanks Hip. Bye now.
Absolutely loved that interview with Hip. He just had that quiet confidence that he knew his subject matter and he did a great job explaining how digitalization and AI can help even the smallest utilities. And I really liked how he kind of identified the threshold where digitalization and AI makes sense for water facilities at industrial facilities.
So that was a very interesting all around interview by Hip. So thanks Hip. Really appreciate your time and staying up late to get on that interview with me.
Well, I'd love to know what you thought about the interview. Please check out the Show Notes page for information and links on this episode. Just Google the Water Values Podcast, click the first link that comes up. That's our home on Bluefield Research's website. Again, longtime listeners know that Bluefield Research and the Water Values LLC are not affiliates. We just have a joint marketing arrangement and as part of that we get a home on Bluefield Research's website.
Well, you can email me at david.mcgimpseydentins.com and you can sign up for the newsletter at that landing page I mentioned earlier as well.
Thank you again for tuning in and I hope you make it a great day and have a phenomenal holiday season as we start to get into the holiday season here, at least in the us. Plus, I want to give a huge thank you to our sponsors again. Sponsors of the Water values podcast include 1898 and Company, Woodard and Curran, Entera Xylem, the American Waterworks Association, Black & Veatch, 120 Water, Suez Digital Solutions, IDE Water Technologies, and Advanced Drainage Systems. This show would not be possible without those great companies and industry leaders.
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You've been listening to the Water Values Podcast. Thank you for spending some of your.
[00:46:04] Speaker C: Day with my dad and me.
[00:46:05] Speaker A: Well, thank you for tuning in to the disclaimer. I'm a lawyer licensed in Indiana and Colorado and and nothing in this podcast should be taken as providing legal advice or as establishing an attorney client relationship with you or with anyone else. Additionally, nothing in this podcast should be considered a solicitation for professional employment. I'm just a lawyer that finds water issues interesting and that believes greater public education is needed about water issues. And that includes enhancing my own education about water issues, because no one knows everything about water.
