Anglian Water, SES Water and Welsh Water are joining forces to hold a virtual online data hack over two weeks to make steps in understanding customer behaviour in relation to water consumption.

United by an ambition to add value to customers' lives, the hackathon has been created to help produce outputs that will help the water companies support their customers to manage their bills, while also enhancing the company's leakage strategies.

The virtual hackathon is inviting some of the brightest minds from across the industry to join them to work out how they can more efficiently and accurately manage demand for water especially over these unique summer months of increased home usage.

Shaunna Berensden, Head of Innovation Engagement at Anglian Water, said:

"We know that collaboration is key to achieving positive outcomes for our customers. Working together in this concentrated and fast-paced way can supercharge our collective understanding and quickly pass on benefits onto customers.

"The collective groups will be able to untap hidden insights and fresh perspective and look at new ways we can address what is the biggest challenge the water industry faces".

Through five ‘online' days, participants will have the opportunity to enter as a team or an individual to deliver a solution using data from Anglian, SES and Welsh Water alongside other sources. Held virtually, it's up to the teams to decide when and how they work. Using design sprint principles, the teams will be able to quickly cut through the issues to compress potentially months (or years!) of work in just five working days.

All three water companies have different customers, environments and infrastructure, and through asking participants to consider all of these elements in their approach, they are hoping to create outcomes that can be broadly applied to a range of customers.

The hack will take place virtually using Zoom from Monday 24 August until Friday 4 September. While this covers a two-week period, there are only five ‘active' team days. This means that attendance is only expected on the five active days. The two-week window allows participants to work at their own pace and balance their input with other commitments.

Jeremy Heath, Innovation Manager at SES Water, said:

"We're excited to be joining forces and combining our data resources for this event. As we operate in an area of serious water stress, it has never been as important to understand more about our customers' behaviour around water usage. We look forward to seeing the ideas generated through this collaboration and believe there is real potential for some industry changing outcomes."

There will be four virtual tents to host attendees. These will each have a slightly different problem statement and guests will be able to select which of these they work on over the two weeks.

The topics to be covered are:

• Improving how we calculate water balance
• Predicting consumption hotspots
• Helping customers save water and money
• Identifying customer side leakage

All three companies are committed to driving customer benefits and working out new ways to support them, particularly through the added and unexpected pressures brought about by Covid-19.

Kit Wilson, Head of Transformation at Welsh Water, said:

"We're really looking forward to being part of this collaborative event which will bring benefits to both customers and the industry alike. Here in Wales, there is a perception that we are awash with water but even here we need to make sure that we all play our part in protecting this most precious of resources. Bringing together so many experts in this way really does increase the chances of an innovative solution being developed to address some of the challenges we collectively face".

The water companies are encouraging applicants with a broad range of experience including those looking to increase their skills and expertise. Contributing in the Data Hack will be a great way to build knowledge and develop a network within the industry. To aid career development participants will have the opportunity to verify their involvement with a digital badge to include on their LinkedIn page.

Prizes will be awarded to a range of ideas from the two weeks.

To register to join the hackathon visit www.waterhack2020.eventbrite.co.uk