Town of Midland Receives Municipal Innovation Award

Ottawa, Ontario, August 20, 2024 – The Peter J. Marshall Innovation Award Jury presented its highest award to the Town of Midland for its project: Leveraging AI for Enhanced Risk Assessments for Water and Wastewater Infrastructure.

The award was presented to Midland’s Chief Administrative Officer Rhonda Bunn, and Water and Wastewater Services Manager André Pepin at the 2024 AMO Conference in Ottawa.

With more than two hundred linear kilometres of infrastructure, Midland’s water and wastewater system requires ongoing maintenance and oversight to prevent breaks and blockages. As part of a risk and life cycle management framework, process improvement assesses likelihood of pipe failure, including associated costs. 

Previous challenges to developing a framework that also considered the many factors contributing to likelihood of pipe failure presented an opportunity for the Town to seek out advanced technologies to improve this process.

Working with CANN Forecast, a Montreal-based start-up specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), Town staff uploaded extensive data, including failure history and current work orders on existing water infrastructure. This included data collected through acoustical monitoring, an efficient method of detecting blockages and problems in underground water and wastewater infrastructure. CANN Forecast’s AI technology produced a new model for identifying the most at-risk sections of Midland’s water and wastewater network and determining the likelihood of failure. This new model will also better predict social and economic factors that could impact the cost of failure.

This technology allows Midland to manage its underground water infrastructure with unprecedented accuracy, mitigating the risk of critical failures, improving infrastructure lifespan, and enhancing overall service delivery.

“We are truly honoured to be selected for the Peter J. Marshall Innovation Award this year at AMO. By leveraging AI technology to predict the likelihood of pipe failure, we can develop an efficient life-cycle management strategy for our water and wastewater assets,” said Midland CAO Rhona Bunn. “Our water services staff continue to impress us with their dedication to advancing our service delivery through innovative approaches and improved technologies, enhancing the quality of services in our town.”

The P.J. Marshall Award is an annual competitive process to acknowledge municipalities who have had creativity and success in implementing new, innovative ways of serving the public. It is sponsored by AMO, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks & Treasurers of Ontario, the Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships, the Municipal Finance Officers’ Association, and the Ontario Municipal Administrators’ Association.

In addition to the Town of Midland, two other municipalities – the City of Peterborough and Regional Municipality of York – received plaque awards.

AMO works to make municipal governments stronger and more effective. Through AMO, Ontario’s 444 municipalities work together to achieve shared goals and meet common challenges.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Brian Lambie, AMO Media Contact, 416-729-5425, lambie@redbrick.ca