Veolia’s next-generation Hubgrade Center delivers operational excellence for municipal water operations across the West
> Veolia’s flagship Hubgrade Center in Scottsdale, Arizona enables communities anywhere to benefit from the most advanced digitally enabled water operations in America
> Hubgrade combines human expertise with real-time data and artificial intelligence to optimize chemical use, cut energy costs, extend asset life and strengthen environmental compliance, so municipal water systems perform better for their communities
> Leveraging digital technologies like drones, robots, augmented reality and virtual reality devices, and digital twins, this Hubgrade Center delivers industry-leading expertise at scale so communities can tap into cutting-edge resources with minimal investment
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.-Veolia today opened its first Hubgrade Center in North America, a digital command center that combines human expertise with the power of real-time data and artificial intelligence to deliver top-quality water and wastewater treatment at Veolia-operated facilities across the western United States.
This Hubgrade Center allows communities of any size to benefit from Veolia’s digital capabilities and operational expertise, with AI-enabled data analysis and dedicated experts now able to remotely monitor and continuously improve their operations. Freed from relying solely on in-house tools and teams, municipal water and wastewater providers can rely on this Hubgrade facility to streamline and transform complex operational data into clear, day-to-day guidance.
Veolia has to date implemented Hubgrade capabilities at seven wastewater systems that are remotely and securely managed at the Scottsdale Hubgrade Center, and will expand this service to a total of 27 municipal partners by the end of 2025. Operators at the Center use continuous data monitoring, remote-controlled drones and robots, and 360-degree “digital twin” models of this distributed infrastructure to provide top-quality systemic guidance throughout the West. The Scottsdale location can support all our partner communities, working around the clock, to help optimize chemical use, reduce energy consumption, extend asset life and comply with environmental regulations – helping municipal budgets, residents and communities.
At the formal launch event inside the Hubgrade Center, surrounded by screens displaying real-time operational parameters and optimization tools for Veolia-operated sites from Washington State to southern California, Veolia leaders demonstrated Hubgrade’s capabilities to municipal officials from across the Phoenix Valley. They donned virtual-reality headsets to remotely visit site operations, asked plain-English AI models to evaluate data feeds from plants hundreds of miles away, and discussed how Hubgrade’s digital tools can meet their goals to conserve and reuse water, reduce their carbon footprints and improve environmental quality for their communities.
“Our next-generation Hubgrade Center strengthens Veolia’s ability to provide environmental security at a time when water resources are stressed across a growing region,” said Karine Rougé, CEO of Veolia’s Municipal Water division in North America. “The key strength of Hubgrade is the increasing value it generates by bringing together our subject matter expertise and digital enablement. By pairing advanced digital tools with Veolia’s industry-leading specialists, municipalities of any size can bridge skill gaps, strengthen performance and gain greater precision and transparency. That translates into delivering real value to the people they serve.”
Joe Tackett, President and CEO of Veolia’s Municipal Water Contract Operations in North America, added, “Hubgrade gives municipalities powerful new ways to improve efficiency and value. Proven deployments worldwide have cut energy use by up to 35%, optimized chemical management despite supply challenges, and extended equipment life through predictive monitoring and VR-enabled maintenance support. Hubgrade’s community-enabling capability frees up resources that cities can reinvest in priorities like water reuse and infrastructure upgrades.”
“Hubgrade is about making innovation practical and accessible to communities. Municipalities in the West have significant challenges looming ahead and increasing demands on capital to invest in new water reuse facilities. With Hubgrade, Veolia allows our clients to tap into cutting-edge AI and robotics solutions as well as field-tested human expertise, so they can improve today’s operations and prepare for a stronger future,” said Aaditya Raman, West Region President of Veolia’s Municipal Water Contract Operations. ”That’s why we pioneered Veolia’s first North American Hubgrade Center in Arizona – a state recognized for both its conservation leadership and technological advancement. Here, we’re showing that cities don’t need to invest millions to build their own digital twins or analytic platforms to achieve the benefits of smarter, more efficient water operations.”
The Hubgrade Center in Scottsdale also houses Veolia’s Innovation Lab, a dedicated space for developing, testing and training on new technologies and advanced solutions tailored to municipal water needs. Both Hubgrade and the Lab’s innovations and digital solutions are built into Veolia’s robust cybersecurity and data governance framework, ensuring every insight is secure, reliable and aligned with public-sector priorities. Hubgrade’s aggressive embrace of AI and new technology, in concert with Veolia’s unmatched human expertise in water and wastewater operations, aligns with the ambitions set out in Veolia’s strategic GreenUp program to depollute, decarbonize and preserve resources.
To learn more, visit
https://www.veolianorthamerica.com/about/innovation/hubgrade-veolia
ABOUT VEOLIA IN NORTH AMERICA
Veolia in North America is the top-ranked environmental company in the United States for three consecutive years, and the country’s largest private water operator and technology provider as well as hazardous waste and pollution treatment leader. It offers a full spectrum of water, waste, and energy management services, including water and wastewater treatment, commercial and hazardous waste collection and disposal, energy consulting and resource recovery. Veolia helps commercial, industrial, healthcare, higher education and municipality customers throughout North America. Headquartered in Boston, Veolia has more than 10,000 employees working at more than 350 locations across North America.
ABOUT VEOLIA GROUP
Veolia Group aims to become the benchmark company for ecological transformation. Present on five continents with 215,000 employees, the Group designs and deploys useful, practical solutions for the management of water, waste and energy that are contributing to a radical turnaround of the current situation. Through its three complementary activities, Veolia helps to develop access to resources, to preserve available resources and to renew them. In 2024, the Veolia group provided 111 million inhabitants with drinking water and 98 million with sanitation, produced 42 million megawatt hours of energy and treated 65 million tons of waste. Veolia Environnement (Paris Euronext: VIE) achieved consolidated revenue of 44.7 billion euros in 2024.
