Philadelphia combats water pollution by moving to the cloud
Governments across the US and beyond are feeling pressure to keep up with accelerating change in their communities, and leaders are turning to digital transformation as a way to empower employees and citizens alike.
Although Philadelphia is only one of over 800 American municipalities with combined sewers—handling both stormwater and wastewater through a single pipe—its data-centric approach has made the city an example of how to avoid sewage overflow during rainstorms.
The Philadelphia Water Department used Microsoft Azure and innovative smart monitors to forecast weather and automate control of its stormwater infrastructure. Here’s how moving to the cloud impacted the organization:
- Kept 1.5 billion gallons of polluted water out of local rivers annually
- Reduced runoff by 98.8 percent on pilot property
- Helped sewers run smoothly using real-time data
- Refined long-term processes with intelligent analytics
Explore our interactive guide Bringing Citizen Services into the Digital Age to see how other governments are improving citizen services through digital transformation.
