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Camilla Braithwaite and Billy Cothran: Using Geospatial AI to Make Dams Smarter
A screenshot of Rezatec’s dam monitoring platform dashboard, displaying ground motion anomalies.
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eospatial data and advanced information technologies have revolutionized nearly every aspect of modern life, including the assessment of dams. Geospatial analytics companies are now partnering with water districts, dam operators, and government agencies to provide better assessment of normal and abnormal dam behavior, subsidence patterns, vegetation changes, and other factors that can provide insight into the safety status of water infrastructure. Camilla Braithwaite and Billy Cothran are a prime example of this partnership. Ms. Braithwaite is a product manager for Rezatec, a satellite data analytics company, and Mr. Cothran is CEO of a South Carolina water district that is undertaking a pilot study of Rezatec’s technology. In this interview, they tell Hydro Leader about the synergy between their two worlds. Hydro Leader: Tell us about your backgrounds and how you came to be in your current positions.
20 | HYDRO LEADER | April 2021
Billy Cothran: I am the CEO of Startex-Jackson-WellfordDuncan (SJWD) Water District. I’ve been in that position for 2 years now and have more than 25 years of water industry experience. I’m an engineer by trade and an administrator by necessity. I’ve been with SJWD since 2005 and have held the role of district engineer, chief operating officer, and now CEO. hydroleadermagazine.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF REZATEC.
Camilla Braithwaite: I am a product manager for Rezatec’s WaterSAT solution, which incorporates geospatial artificial intelligence (AI) to look at the physical and environmental hazards that threaten asset integrity and the factors that enable our customers to maximize the value of their assets. I guess the first thing to cover is the definition of geospatial AI. The geospatial element is that we gather data remotely from satellites, including location, attribute, and temporal information. We then deploy our unique AI to interpret the
data, providing our customers with cutting-edge insights. Our technical team is made up of software developers, data scientists, and earth observation scientists. My role is to listen to what’s happening in the industry and talk to our customers, then communicate their needs and challenges to the technical side of our business. This enables us to deliver products to our clients that help them in their day-to-day operations, whether by optimizing resources, reducing costs, or streamlining operations. I also communicate what we’re doing on the product development side back to our customers and the industry so that they can understand the value we can add with our data and software. Our main goal is to add value by helping dam owners and operators solve the considerable challenges they face. I come from a software development background and previously worked with legal software, which is slightly drier. What I really enjoy in this role is the asset management side—helping companies make better decisions to keep both people and assets safe.
