The plant expert that's always on shift.
Ask it a question and Opmate will help you solve any plant issues.
Steps we need to take:
- Check the poly dose setpoint. For stable conditions it should be around 0.05mg/L.
- Do a dose time to confirm if the dose pump is delivering this.
- Check the batching system. We may have made up a batch that is too strong.
Your best operator's know-how, on every shift.
Most supplies rest on a few experienced operators, and what they know is rarely written down. New staff learn on the job with little oversight, and officers carry personal due diligence duties for safe drinking water. Opmate is an assistant that's always available, knows your plant, your water safety plan and the Rules, and works through treatment problems the same way every time.
A training aid on every shift
Each answer walks through the likely causes, the checks in order and the fix, at their own plant, with any calculation shown. New operators and new entrants learn the plant as they work, without waiting for someone senior to be on.
A sounding board
A second opinion at 2 am. Test a hunch against the plant’s own set-up, the control register and the Rules, and see the causes that aren’t the first to come to mind.
Know-how that stays
What your senior operators know can be added as key learnings for the plant, approved by the site admin, so it stays when they retire or move on. Handovers and the plant log keep every shift in the picture.
Assurance the plan is applied
When a reading reaches a limit, your control register’s actions from the water safety plan come first, word for word, every time. Conversations, the plant log and handovers are kept as the plant’s record of how each problem was handled.
Opmate gives guidance, not instructions: your water safety plan and your people come first.
A diagnostic engine, not a chatbot.
Opmate isn't a general AI model dressed up for water treatment. At its core is a water treatment diagnostic engine: deterministic code that makes every diagnostic decision. A language model is used at two points only, to read the operator's words and to put the engine's answer into plain language.
- 1. Reads
Language model
Turns the operator’s words and readings into structured facts the engine can use.
- 2. Decides
Diagnostic engine
Works out the likely causes for your plant, the checks in order, the fix, your control register’s actions and any calculation. Deterministic code, built from 30 years of troubleshooting.
- 3. Explains
Language model
Puts the engine’s answer into plain language. Every reply is checked against the engine’s answer before it’s shown.
Reliable
The same facts at the same plant give the same diagnosis, every time.
Consistent
Every shift and every operator gets the same causes, checks and fixes, in the same order.
No hallucinations
The model words the answer; it doesn’t invent it.
Honest about gaps
If Opmate doesn’t have an answer, it says so. Those gaps can be filled with key learnings for your plant.
Built for the control room.
Diagnoses plant problems
Operators describe what they’re seeing and give the readings they have. Opmate works out the likely causes for that plant, the checks that tell them apart in order, the fix, and how to recover the plant.
Plant log and handovers
Operators log readings and events, fill in the plant’s own log forms and hand over between shifts. Opmate writes the handover and a weekly summary.
Learns your plant
Key learnings unique to each plant can be added to improve the diagnosis. Each one is approved by the plant’s site admin before it’s used.
The Rules and the Standards
Opmate understands the DWQAR and the DWSNZ, as well as your plant’s CCPs and control register from its water safety plan.
Set up once. Ask on shift.
- 1
Set up your plant once
Enter its process units, chemicals and your control register. Opmate works from your plant’s own set-up.
- 2
Operators ask in plain words
At the control room, on shift, the way they’d describe it to a colleague, with the readings they have.
- 3
Opmate answers
With the checks, the fix and your control register’s own actions, plus any calculation worked through.
Priced by the plant.
Every plant includes Watercalcs Premium seats, so the people who run it get the full calculators too.
Simple
included with each plant
- Bores and surface intakes
- Cartridge or bag filters
- UV, chlorination, pH correction and fluoride
Standard
included with each plant
- Everything in Simple
- Conventional treatment: coagulation, clarifiers or DAF
- Rapid gravity or pressure filters
- Fe/Mn oxidation
- Backwash recovery and sludge treatment
Advanced
included with each plant
- Everything in Standard
- Membranes (MF/UF)
- Ozone, BAC/GAC or UV with hydrogen peroxide
Every plant gets all of Opmate. A plant with more processes has more that can go wrong, so more for Opmate to cover: its type follows its processes and sets its price and how many of its people get Watercalcs Premium. When you sign up, add each of your plants and pick its type. Change them later as your plants change.
Live demo available from mid-November 2026. Explore a working plant for 7 days.
Go by its highest process.
Opmate checks this against your plant's set-up, and a plant can move up a type later.
Advanced
Standard plus membranes (MF/UF), ozone, BAC/GAC or UV with hydrogen peroxide.
Standard
Conventional treatment: coagulation, clarifiers or DAF, rapid gravity or pressure filters, Fe/Mn oxidation, and backwash recovery and sludge treatment (thickening, dewatering, sludge handling).
Simple
Bores and surface intakes with cartridge or bag filters, UV, chlorination, pH correction and fluoride only.
Built to the standard councils expect.
Opmate is built for public drinking-water suppliers. Security is part of how it is designed, built and run, and we are working towards SOC 2.
Tenant isolation in the database
Each plant’s records are kept apart by row-level security in the database itself, not only in the application. Automated tests prove the isolation of every table on every change.
Data residency
Plant records are stored on Australia’s east coast. Messages are processed by Anthropic’s model service in the United States. Every service and region is set out in the whitepaper.
Encryption
TLS on every connection, enforced in the browser with HSTS, and on every database connection. Data encrypted at rest (AES-256), backups included.
AI with guard rails
The language model sees only what one message needs: the operator’s words, and then the engine’s finished answer to put into plain language. It has no access to your database, never sees another plant’s data, and makes no diagnostic decisions.
Sharing is your choice
Nothing your people write is shared with the Opmate team unless your organisation turns it on: rated replies only, or all conversations. Shared conversations never carry anyone’s name, and the plant log and photos are never seen by the Opmate team. The team sees how much each plant uses Opmate, as numbers only.
Record keeping
Conversations kept 24 months; the plant log for as long as you’re with us; export everything at any time. Daily backups kept seven days. On leaving, your data is deleted within 90 days.
Here for the calculators?
36 water treatment calculators and models for plant operators and designers, aligned to NZ and global standards. Free to start, nothing to install.
What is Opmate?
Opmate is a fault-finding assistant for drinking water treatment plant operators, made by Watercalcs. An operator describes a problem or gives readings in plain words, and Opmate works out the likely causes at that plant, the checks to make in order and the fix. When a reading reaches a limit it puts the site’s control register actions first, and it runs the Watercalcs calculations in the conversation.
Who is Opmate for?
Water treatment plant operators, and the people who run plants with them: site admins, supervisors and the organisations that own the plants. An organisation manages its plants and who has access, with Watercalcs accounts.
Is Opmate just an AI chatbot?
No. Opmate is a water treatment diagnostic engine. Deterministic code makes every diagnostic decision: the likely causes for your plant, the checks in order, the fix, your control register’s actions and any calculation. A language model is used at two points only, to read the operator’s words and to put the engine’s answer into plain language.
Can Opmate make things up?
The answer comes from the engine, the Watercalcs calculators and your control register, not from the language model, and every reply is checked against the engine’s answer before it’s shown. The same facts at the same plant give the same diagnosis every time. If Opmate doesn’t have an answer, it says so, and those gaps can be filled with key learnings for your plant.
Does it replace my SOPs or water safety plan?
No. When a reading reaches a limit, Opmate puts your control register’s corrective actions first, word for word, and it works alongside your water safety plan. Opmate gives guidance, not instructions: your water safety plan comes first.
When can we start?
The live demo opens in mid-November 2026: join the waitlist and we’ll send you a link to a working demo plant to explore for 7 days. When you’re ready, you set up your own plants, or the Opmate team can set them up for you from your plant’s documents.
Can I see it first?
Yes. The live demo is a working plant with weeks of history: ask it questions, log readings, write a handover and see the weekly summary. It’s your own copy for 7 days, and nobody else sees what you add.
How is it priced?
By the plant, by type: Simple, Standard or Advanced, monthly or annually. Every plant gets all of Opmate; the type sets the price and how many Watercalcs Premium seats come with it. Prices are excluding applicable taxes.
Do my operators need Watercalcs Premium?
No. Everyone at a plant uses all of Opmate, including the calculations in the conversation. Each plant also comes with a set number of Watercalcs Premium seats for the full calculators on watercalcs.com.
What does the language model see?
Only what one message needs: the operator’s words, and then the engine’s finished answer to put into plain language. It has no access to your database, never sees another plant’s data and makes no diagnostic decisions.
What about our data?
Each plant’s records are kept apart by row-level security in the database and stored on Australia’s east coast. Messages are processed by Anthropic’s model service in the United States. Sharing conversations with the Opmate team is off unless your organisation turns it on, never carries anyone’s name, and never includes the plant log or photos. See Security and privacy above, our Privacy Policy, or ask us for the security whitepaper.
Bring Opmate to your plant.
Live demo available from mid-November 2026. Explore a working plant for 7 days.