The Harlow Report

The Harlow Report-GIS

2023 Edition


ISSN 0742-468X
Since 1978
On-line Since 2000


first published week of:   02/13/2023

Machine Learning Maps Location of Lead Pipes

by Kaitlyn Levinson

An open-source map will help communities find and remove pipes faster.

Water utility managers will soon have access to an interactive, open-source map that uses machine learning to predict the location of a community’s lead pipes.

The LeadOut map will show the location of lead service lines and the progress made to remove and replace them, said Eric Schwartz, a co-founder of BlueConduit, the water analytics company developing the map. It is slated to launch in early 2023, supplementing officials’ current efforts to find aging infrastructure.

If cities are “going to spend $8,000, $10,000, $12,000 to dig up a house on the street to replace lead, we want to make sure you can actually find lead there,” Schwartz said. “We’re enabling cities, utilities and contractors to … spend their money and their time getting the lead out” rather than manually looking for lead infrastructure all over the city.

 Read full story at GCN…