Climate change not a problem for MWH Soft

Whether it is for the cooler climate of the UK or the hot temperatures of the Sinai Peninsular, MWH Soft has the software to help improve infrastructure and prevent major flooding.


Wessex Water has expanded its use of MWH Soft’s InfoWorks CS to include InfoWorks 2D’s two-dimensional above-ground modelling and the capability to model large and complex collection systems of up to 100,000 nodes.

MWH Soft, a leading global innovator of wet infrastructure modelling and simulation software and technologies, said Wessex Water’s decision further substantiates global leadership position in engineering-GIS modeling and management software for water and wastewater utilities.

Wessex Water provides sewerage services to 2.6 million customers covering more than 10,000km2 in the South-west, including the urban areas of Bath, Bournemouth, Bristol, and Poole. Its collection system comprises 16,700km of sewer pipelines, 1,455 pumping stations, and 405 sewage treatment facilities.

“InfoWorks CS is a critical part of our technical engineering infrastructure,” says David Searby, technical manager – sewerage for Wessex Water. “Providing high quality sewerage services to millions of customers every day requires a clear understanding of both the short- and long-term decisions of our operators and engineers.

“InfoWorks CS allows us to quickly and easily simulate an almost limitless number of conditions and see how they affect the collection system both above and below ground.”


Real-time control
InfoWorks CS provides water utilities with an effective tool for undertaking hydrological modelling of the complete urban water cycle. Essential for identifying and justifying cost-effective infrastructure improvements, it also provides a practical method for operational control, including real-time control, of the wastewater network.

Other applications include urban flooding and pollution prediction and the modeling of water quality and sediment transport throughout the network.

In addition to supporting fast and accurate network modelling, the software features specific tools to support the modeling of subcatchment takeoff and infiltration. With its exceptionally fast and robust simulations, InfoWorks CS facilitates the swift modelling of total networks or any sub-network.

InfoWorks 2D facilitates fast, accurate and detailed surface flood modelling. Two-dimensional (2D) simulation is better suited than one-dimensional simulation (1D) for modelling flows through complex geometries – such as urban streets and buildings, road intersections and other transport infrastructure – and open ground, where either source or direction of flow is problematic to assume.

In urban areas the situation is further exacerbated by sewer networks, where flows can both enter and exit the system during flooding.

Andrew Brown, MWH Soft’s EMEA regional manager, says: “The shift is being driven by a range of compelling factors, including speed; brevity of learning curve; powerful, comprehensive feature sets; and superior technical support. We are pleased to see progressive utilities like Wessex Water continue to expand their commitment to using world-class software tools to benefit their customers.”

MWH Soft has also implemented its FloodWorks software in a 10,000km2 pilot area around Nuweiba, Egypt. The system was used to successfully predict flooding in the region back in February, the worst flash flooding event in Egypt since 1994.

The implementation is the latest in MWH Soft’s industry-leading commitment to creating groundbreaking software tools for real time hydraulic and hydrologic modelling.

Nuweiba, on the South-east portion of the Sinai Peninsula, is located on a floodplain sandwiched between the Gulf of Aquaba and the Sinai Mountains. Although the peninsula suffers from frequent water shortages, it is subject to flash floods that result in loss of life, hamper regional development, and greatly contribute to soil erosion and pollution. The February 2010 flooding resulted in significant damage and seven deaths. In the pilot area running MWH Soft FloodWorks, no casualties were reported.

FloodWorks is a modular software package for real-time simulation and forecasting of extreme hydrological and hydraulic conditions within river basins, drainage systems and coastal zones. Linking real-time hydrological and meteorological time-series data sources with detailed and accurate hydraulic models, it forecasts water level, flood depth and sea state for the hours or days ahead. Designed for operational use in the control room, FloodWorks is particularly suited to real time flood forecasting, warning and management of river catchments and coastal areas. Critical to the program is its ability to aggregate multiple sources of dynamic input data and automatically validate them in real time.

This capability, combined with the flexibility to work with InfoWorks RS, InfoWorks CS, InfoWorks ICM, InfoSWMM, H2OMAP SWMM, and other non-MWH Soft hydrologic and hydraulic simulation models, makes FloodWorks both easy to implement and highly accurate.


Low flow
By enabling managers and engineers to carry out fast, accurate simulation of the future behavior of river and channel systems, FloodWorks supports the mobilisation of emergency responses and the issuance of public flood warnings. It can also be used to support reservoir and dam operations, predict low flow episodes, and generate real-time water quality predictions and warnings.

Brown comments: “Real time modeling and forecasting involves some of our most advanced technology. It has the potential to not only dramatically improve emergency response to flooding events, but save lives.

“For computer-modeled flood forecasting to be useful, it must be both extremely accurate and very fast. As shown during the Egypt flooding, FloodWorks clearly meets these criteria.”

www.mwhsoft.com

Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

Subscribe