The 2015 Smart Infrastructure Award has been awarded to IBM Australia-Yarra Valley Water project for its Smart Water Infrastructure Initiative.
The award was presented by Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Jamie Briggs at the 2015 National Infrastructure Awards dinner, hosted by Infrastructure Partnerships Australia on Wednesday 25 March.
The IBM Australia-Yarra Valley Water project aims to improve service delivery through the deployment of smart technologies.
The Smart Water Infrastructure Initiative will assist Yarra Valley Water in providing $3 billion of water and sewerage infrastructure via sophisticated analytics and asset management software from IBM.
The project is expected to produce a comprehensive view of all the utility’s assets used to deliver water and sewerage services to over 1.7 million people and 50,000 businesses throughout Melbourne.
Yarra Valley Water will be able to collect, combine and analyse data from across its asset portfolio, particularly when prioritising the renewal of ageing infrastructure.
The new system will boost the longevity of assets and reduce downtime and maintenance costs, while minimising disruption to the community.
As well as saving money, this will allow Yarra Valley Water to redirect valuable resources to improving customer service, and developing sustainability initiatives and innovative new services that benefit the community.
The Australian Government sponsored the Smart Infrastructure Project Award through the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development as part of its commitment to delivering sustainable, efficient and safe infrastructure in partnership with state, territory and local governments.
The recognition is part of the National Infrastructure Awards, which celebrate infrastructure success stories from the previous 12 months.