Fort Mill, SC, March 12, 2024 – Delta Bravo AI, a pioneer in Industrial Artificial Intelligence (AI), is proud to unveil an innovative project aimed at revolutionizing water management. This initiative, in partnership with the National Science Foundation and others, leverages Delta Bravo’s AI technology to enhance water quality, safety, and equity, addressing critical infrastructure and workforce challenges faced by water utilities throughout the United States.
The absence of qualified operators presents a safety risk, equity concerns, and stifled growth as businesses hesitate to invest in areas with substandard infrastructure. With projections indicating alarming vacancy rates in water treatment and distribution roles, the urgency for modern technological interventions has never been more apparent.
The project aims to use AI to proactively anticipate and resolve issues related to water quality, equipment reliability, and regulatory compliance, starting in Delta Bravo’s home state of South Carolina.
“Minimally viable water systems yield minimally viable communities,” said Rick Oppedisano, CEO of Delta Bravo AI. “Businesses won’t invest in these towns; children will grow up and leave. We owe it to our families, our communities and our country to do more.”
“The looming shortage of certified operators is a tangible and immediate crisis, not merely an abstract concern for the distant future,” said Brett Butz, Environmental Health Manager at SC Dept of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) and member of the project team. “The situation creates a negative feedback loop where scarce funds are diverted to contract operations instead of being allocated for essential system maintenance and improvements.”
Led by Delta Bravo Artificial Intelligence, the project adopts a holistic convergence approach, engaging local community members, governmental bodies, educational institutions, and private industry partners. The project team includes participants from Cisco Systems, DHEC, Clemson University, Benedict College and the South Carolina Governor’s School of Science and Math.
Successful implementation of the AI-powered solution promises to yield significant improvements in compliance, water quality, and safety, thereby enhancing water equity and economic viability in communities across South Carolina and beyond.
“The ability of a region to provide sufficient, reliable, safe water systems should not be a differentiator in siting determinations,” says Susie Shannon, CEO of South Carolina’s Council on Competitiveness and a member of the project team. “The State of South Carolina is aggressively pursuing targeted and innovative higher-wage economic strategies, such as electrification and circular battery technologies, dependent upon the ability for our regions to provide agile and reliable water systems.”
In 2022, 2.2 billion people lacked safely managed drinking water in the United States; 3.5 billion people lacked safely-managed sanitation; and 2 billion people lacked a basic handwashing facility, according to the National Institutes of Health. It is estimated that billions more will lack access to these basic services by 2030, unless viable and proactive solutions are developed.
“Manufacturing and civil infrastructure represent the core of American innovation and quality of life,” adds Oppedisano. “Both are experiencing challenges around cost and skilled workers. We’re using AI to fill this gap. It’s our mission to enable economic growth and quality of life for our customers, families and communities.”
For media inquiries and further information, please contact:
Ashley West, Delta Bravo
Email: Ashley@deltabravo.ai
About Delta Bravo Artificial Intelligence:
Delta Bravo AI is headquartered in Fort Mill, South Carolina, and specializes in empowering manufacturers and civil infrastructure teams to optimize operations through the integration of AI and machine learning solutions. The company’s flagship product, the Delta Bravo platform, offers end-to-end data transformation, modeling and seamless integration of AI into existing processes and systems. Since 2017, Delta Bravo AI has delivered tangible results for industry leaders such as Rolls-Royce, AccuWeather, Nucor Steel, Toyota, and Gulfstream, among others. For more information, visit https://deltabravo.ai.