Smarter Drains, Safer Cities

AI is reshaping how American cities plan stormwater defences, faster, cheaper and a bit smarter

25 Jun 2025

Beneath America’s aging streets, a technological shift is quietly taking shape. As climate change brings heavier rains and more frequent floods, cities are turning to artificial intelligence to overhaul their stormwater infrastructure.

Los Angeles is among the pioneers. Its planners now rely on AI tools to identify flood-prone zones and design mitigation systems in a fraction of the usual time. What once took weeks now takes hours. In Richmond, engineers use similar systems to prioritise repairs and allocate resources more efficiently. “It’s helping cities become more strategic and equitable in managing risk,” says an engineer involved in the Richmond initiative.

The trend is being propelled by firms such as Autodesk and Arcadis. Autodesk’s software now includes “digital twins,” real-time, data-driven replicas of drainage systems. These allow officials to monitor performance and anticipate failures before they happen. Arcadis is using AI to streamline permit applications and speed up funding requests, trimming delays that once stymied green infrastructure projects.

The appeal is clear. Many municipalities face overstretched budgets, ageing infrastructure and rising climate risks. AI offers a way to make upgrades more surgical and less costly by modelling storm events, assessing runoff and producing permit-ready plans with fewer missteps. The result is not just efficiency, but a subtle shift in urban strategy from reactive to anticipatory.

Barriers remain. Smaller cities often lack the expertise or funds to deploy advanced tools. Some worry about overreliance on algorithms whose assumptions may be opaque. Still, costs are falling and user interfaces are improving.

If the past was defined by buried pipes and bureaucratic gridlock, the future may be marked by smarter design and quicker decisions. Flooding may be unavoidable. But with AI in the loop, its impact need not be.