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Director (Infrastructure) at City of Gosnells
Navigating Smart Technologies
Martyn Glover
Impact of Ongoing Changes in Local Government Infrastructure in Satisfying Your Business Requirements
The City of Gosnells is a large metropolitan local government in the south-east of Perth, bordered by the Darling Scarp to the east and divided by the Canning and Southern Rivers. It has a population of 133,000 and has engaged with smart technology to improve service levels and productivity.
There are many smart technological opportunities available to the city, however, the city has opted to be selective, ensuring each technology has a strong business case and is predominantly proven.
Within the infrastructure directorate, the smart technologies have included smart LED street and park lighting, central irrigation control, remote field communications, fleet GPS, waste bin monitoring, CCTV, and, most recently, smart drainage.
The challenges associated with these smart technologies include ensuring you get the right product for the community’s needs, training city staff to use it appropriately, and adopting a process of continuous improvement, so the product continues to provide the desired service. It is also important to make sure that the organization has a backup plan for when the technology fails.
In each case, the city has investigated available products, conducted trials to ensure the technology lives up to expectations, and then, subject to the outcome of the trial, committed to the technology across the city. A recent example has been the provision of smart LED street and park lighting.
The city selected a Philips product, City Touch, which was proven around the world. It was selected because it operated on a soft SIM card so did not need additional equipment to communicate with the central control, as it directly communicated via the 4G network.
The city owns approximately 1,300 street and park lights and the initial trial of the product was conducted in the Gosnells Town Center. The trial involved the replacement of approximately 70 metal halide luminaires mounted on street and park light poles. The new LED luminaires were all fitted with seven-pin NEMA sockets so they could accept the City Touch smart node.
The trial was successful, and the city has since replaced a further 377 streetlights, accounting for all the city-owned streetlights. Only the park lights remain to be completed and this program will commence this financial year. In terms of backup, the city has also adjusted its maintenance contracts and processes to address the new technology.
Experiences from one initiative That You Were Recently Involved In
The most recent smart technology introduced to the city’s suite of programs has been the city’s smart drainage. The program includes smart technologies to identify faults inside and outside the city’s pipe network, injection technology to repair voids, as well as flow meters to provide early warning of local flooding.
The technologies include tractor-mounted CCTV to investigate inside pipes, push cameras to go where the tractor cannot reach, ground penetrating radar (GPR) connected to interpretive software to identify and accurately size voids surrounding damaged pipes, expanding foam technology to fill the voids and flow meters linked to texting software so the city's drainage crews are called to the site before it floods.
The initial trials were very successful, and the organization continues to roll out the flow-meter technology across recognized high-risk flooding locations within the city. Currently, the city uses contracted GPR but is exploring the purchasing its own equipment.
In March, the program was recognized with Excellence in Innovation and Excellence in Asset Management awards by the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (WA).
Challenges in Your Business That Current Services cannot Solve
The most significant challenge for the city at the moment is the disposal of waste. The continued global issue of greenhouse gas generation and the regular failure of alternative disposal strategies, including changes to Chinese import policy and regular recycling facility fires, have put significant environmental and economic pressure on local governments.
Whenever an organization is looking to introduce smart technologies, make sure you thoroughly investigate and research the product before you commit.’ the article is based on an interview with martyn glover, director of infrastructure at the city of gosnells
The city has adopted a strategy that suits and is supported by its community; however, this strategy still needs to be fully proven. The city collects a two-bin stream (general waste and recycling) and will be sending the general waste and any residual waste from recycling to a waste-to-energy facility when the plant opens later this year.
The city is also exploring an alternative organic service to FOGO where a bespoke food organic service is offered on a ‘pay to use’ basis. The technology involves digestion of the household food waste by Black Soldier Fly larvae, which produces a high-quality compost additive and then the larvae are harvested for protein in pet food.
Advice to Colleagues in the Government Sector, Working in Diverse Firms, Focusing on Actions That Contribute to Success
Whenever an organization is looking to introduce smart technologies, make sure you thoroughly investigate and research the product before you commit. It is preferable to not be first, potentially the lead loser, when considering something new. However, it doesn’t necessarily need to be proven in Australia to instill confidence that it will work–overseas experience can be relied on.
Conduct a trial before you commit and make sure you model the trial to ensure it will provide sufficient results to provide you with the necessary confidence.
Finally, set targets for required performance and then thoroughly analyze the results of any trial or research to ensure that the technology will deliver.
1. Among the various technology trends shaping the public sector, which one stands out to you as the most exciting, and what makes it so?
Response:
The most exciting technologies from both a local and global perspective are alternative energy sources. Currently, the burning of fossil fuel is one of the most significant contributors to global warming and the world needs to find a solution that addresses this. Currently, it could be battery or hydrogen technology, but maybe there are other cleaner sources yet.
Local government can do its bit, but the pressure is on the science world to find the solution or solutions.
