At the 4th SWAN Asia-Pacific Workshop in Sydney, Sydney Water’s Executive General Manager for Finance, Commercial and Digital, Dean Page, opened the event with a call for caution and collaboration as utilities step further into the digital era.
Page focused on ethics, trust and transparency, encouraging water organisations to ensure that technology reflects the values of the communities they serve.
What does Sydney Water mean by an intelligent digital utility?
Sydney Water, which serves 5.6 million people across Greater Sydney and the Illawarra, is pursuing what it calls the journey to an Intelligent Water Utility.
The utility has evolved from a workforce of 30,000 in earlier decades to about 4,000 today, while its network, regulatory obligations and customer expectations have continued to grow.
This efficiency improvement has been achieved through the use of automation and digital systems. The next step, Page said, depends on trust, transparency and ethics.
He described a future where intelligent systems assist decision-making but remain grounded in human oversight.
Digital transformation is no longer optional; yet, the technologies deployed must align with the purpose and community values.
How can ethics guide AI adoption in water utilities?
Page explained that AI, automation and digital twins are transforming how water networks are managed and maintained.
He warned that utilities cannot afford to treat ethics as an afterthought. AI systems are now embedded in physical infrastructure, controlling valves, sensors, and data flows that affect safety and public health.
These are not just technical questions. There are ethical questions about transparency, accountability and human value.
Trust in digital systems must be established at the design stage. Frameworks such as Australia’s AI Ethics Principles can help utilities set standards for fairness, privacy, transparency, contestability and accountability.
What role should humans play in digital decision-making?
Page outlined a model for ethical AI adoption that progresses from “human in the loop” to “human on the loop” and finally to “human in command.”
In practice, humans must remain central to the validation, testing, and interpretation of AI outputs.
In the early stages, engineers and operators review the results to ensure accuracy and reliability. As systems mature, oversight becomes more strategic and focused on policy and boundaries rather than daily decisions.
The objective is not to remove humans from the process. It is to define how people and intelligent systems can work together responsibly.
Which real-world AI applications is Sydney Water testing?
Sydney Water has begun testing AI in targeted and low-risk applications.
Machine learning is being utilised to assess asset condition through the analysis of CCTV footage in wastewater networks. Computer vision is assisting with the identification and mapping of vent shafts in critical infrastructure. Predictive models are being developed to anticipate overflows before they occur.
AI-supported engineering standards are enhancing consistency in design and compliance, while a policy assistant tool is aiding staff in navigating internal frameworks and regulatory requirements.
These initiatives represent early steps in creating a digitally enabled, ethically guided utility.
How is Sydney Water ensuring AI governance and transparency?
Sydney Water has introduced governance systems to ensure that every digital initiative meets requirements for security, privacy and risk management. Australia’s AI threat advice for critical infrastructure has made such safeguards essential. As AI becomes more capable, utilities face growing exposure to cyberattacks, data manipulation and reliability failures.
AI trust and ethics must be integrated from the beginning, not added at the end. The question is not what AI can do but what it should do.
What does responsible digital transformation look like for utilities?
Page concluded that the digital utility era will not be defined by technology alone. Its success will depend on how that technology is applied.
Technology was once a tool we controlled. It is now a partner embedded in infrastructure and decision-making.
The challenge is to ensure that digital systems reflect the sector’s highest values, including fairness, transparency and accountability, rather than its blind spots.