As part of its £413.9 million five-year strategic development plan, SES Water has partnered with cybersecurity specialist iboss and completed a pioneering pilot project leveraging the Opir machine-learning algorithm.
SES Water, a supplier of drinking water to over 750,000 people across Surrey, Kent, and South London, is focusing on digital transformation to enhance its service and operational resilience. Recently acquired by FTSE 250 company, Pennon, for £380 million, SES Water has outlined ambitious plans for development between 2025 and 2030, including investment in smart metering and refurbishment of water softening plants.
SES Water has partnered with iboss, a Zero Trust Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) vendor, to bolster its cybersecurity framework. Iboss’ solution manages web filtering, blocks malware and ransomware, and provides a Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) model, which ensures employees can only access the data they need after authentication.
“The goal is to give all employees ‘least privilege’ so users can only access the information they need and we can always authenticate them before they access any assets, data, or programs,” said Matt Crockford, SES Water’s Head of Cybersecurity.
As a Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) organisation, SES Water must address unique security related regulatory measures such as the CAF (Cyber Assessment Framework). According to the UK government, the UK is the third most targeted country in the world for cyber-attacks, after the U.S. and Ukraine. The government’s National Cyber Strategy 2022 and the Cyber Security Strategy 2022-2030 both recognised cyber threats to UK CNI as “an area of particular concern”.
Beyond security, iboss supports the mental health and wellbeing of SES Water’s staff by monitoring web activity to flag concerning behavior, enabling critical welfare checks. “At SES Water the mental health of our team is hugely important. Although this is something which most people might not associate with a cybersecurity solution or vendor, it’s an area which iboss really excels in,” Crockford noted. With cyber threats on the rise, this holistic approach has provided SES Water peace of mind and an extra layer of protection.
Predicting water demand with Opir technology
In October, 2024, SES Water also announced the successful completion of a two-year pilot project using the Opir machine-learning algorithm, developed by Royal HaskoningDHV. The algorithm, tested at the Cheam and Woodmansterne treatment sites, forecasts water demand with exceptional accuracy by analyzing data such as reservoir flow, time of day, and weather conditions.
“The successful completion of the Opir Pilot Project demonstrates the "art of the possible". It shows us first hand, in a real case scenario, the potential benefits of leveraging technologies such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence,” said Luis Lazarte, SES Water’s Head of Operational Technology. He emphasized the importance of creating a scalable framework to integrate such technologies across the organization.
By predicting water consumption up to 72 hours in advance, Opir optimizes resource management and ensures consistent distribution, contributing to greater efficiency and reduced energy and chemical use. “The collaborative partnership approach we have allows both parties to come up with new ideas to continuously improve operations even further,” said Martijn Deenan, Opir Product Manager at Royal HaskoningDHV.
