Artificial intelligence will be used in south-west England to predict pollution before it happens and help prevent it. It's hoped the pilot project in Devon will help improve water quality at the seaside resort of Combe Martin, making it a better place for swimming. Sensors placed in rivers and fields will build a picture of the state of local rivers, rainfall and soil. AI will then combine that data with satellite imagery of local land use. It will predict when the local river system is most vulnerable to things like agricultural runoff, allowing for measures such as asking farms to hold off on applying fertiliser. Computer systems company CGI is running the artificial intelligence project with mapping experts Ordnance Survey. CGI said it was more than 90% accurate during a test run. "We'll give (the AI) the history," said CGI's chief sustainability officer Mattie Yeta. "We'll give it all of the geographic information, as well as data sets from the sensors for it to learn and develop the predictive mechanisms to be able to inform where these incidents are occurring and indeed when they will take place."