GE has partnered with water and wastewater utility American Water to create the GE-American Water digital initiative. The project aims to identify and explore advances in the Industrial Internet of Things to help solve challenges in the water industry. The digital alliance will explore ways to use data and analytics to improve the national water infrastructure.

The digital alliance will explore ways to use data and analytics to improve the national water infrastructure.The partners will use GE’s Predix cloud-based software platform to develop software and data-analytics tools. The goal is to help minimize the environmental impact and operating costs associated with water production, treatment, transportation and delivery.

American Water also is collaborating with Commonwealth Edison Co. in Illinois on a project to develop an advanced metering infrastructure. That project seeks to use new information technologies to better manage water usage and quality by allowing customer meters to be read remotely. Collecting, analyzing and acting on the data will “open a new door to a future of water efficiency,” say company officials.