“Self-driving” water systems: A Q&A with Branko Kerkez

Source: Jessica Petras, Michigan Engineering Research News

You don’t have to look very hard to find water problems. 

More frequent and intense storms are causing increased flooding, particularly in rural and low-income communities, and can also lead to sewer overflows. Water treatment plants face new challenges from natural and human-generated contaminants. Infrastructure, such as dams that were built to control water, can have unintended consequences, disrupting ecosystems and changing migration patterns of fish.

Branko Kerkez, an Arthur F. Thurnau Associate Professor of civil and environmental engineering, and his students at the Digital Water Lab are tackling these water problems and more with inspiration from autonomous systems that originated in transportation, robotics or other fields. Like a self-driving car, water systems will one day “steer” themselves in real time based on changing conditions.