Water Simulation Packages (WSP)

From Engineered Software web site:

PIPE-FLO Professional simulates the operation of piping systems transporting liquids and industrial gases under a variety of expected operating conditions. PIPE-FLO Professional has no limits as to the number of pipelines it can handle and provides accurate results for series, branching, looped systems (both open and closed), as well as primary / secondary piping systems. If you can draw your piping system, PIPE-FLO Professional will show you how it operates.

Using PIPE-FLO Professional you can:

• Draw a piping system schematic showing all the pumps, components, tanks, control valves and interconnecting pipelines.
• Size the connecting pipelines using electronic pipe, valve, and fluid data tables.
• Select pumps and control valves from manufacturer’s Electronic Catalogs, to optimize pump and system operation.
• Calculate how the system operates including pressures and flow rates, Net Positive Suction Head (NPSHa), and annual pumping costs.
• Provide immediate access to supporting documents needed to design, build, operate and maintain the piping system.
• Share the piping system design with others by way of the PIPE-FLO Viewer.

For more information see PIPE-FLO Professional web page.

InfraGard 2005 National Conference (hosted by the InfraGard National Members Alliance and the FBI) has a track called “Taking Aim at Our Nation’s Drinking Water”:

Track Overview
As security tightens around airports and other facilities, terrorists are acquiring targets that are easier to reach. These easier to reach targets are called “soft targets” because of their relaxed security, easy access, critical nature to our nations well-being, and, when struck, create fear and paralyze large groups of people.

Drinking water is the ultimate soft target. It is a necessity of life. It is a critical and emotionally-charged component of our nation’s infrastructure. Drinking water is easily accessible with security being erratic to non-existent. Additionally, drinking water and its distribution systems are acutely susceptible to widespread contamination by readily available nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

Consciously-contaminated drinking water will, at a minimum, cause the economy to stall, stop business activities and transportation, close schools and churches, interrupt governmental affairs, destroy the public’s trust in their public officials, and negatively-impact source water supplies (aquifers, reservoirs, lakes, and rivers). The aftermath of a single event is expected to cost billions of dollars.

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Water security at InfraGard 2005

Frank Fisl, from Watercom Engineering, announced a book auction at the company web site:

We are presently auctioning off our remaining book inventory with prices starting as low as $1. You may place your bids before the auction ends on July 19. The books are sorted by category, i.e. General Sciences, Geology, Hydraulics, Hydrology, Pollution Control, Technology and Water Management.

For more information see the auction page.

From Advantica website:

Mains Replacement Prioritization (MRP) Water is an intuitive new decision support tool which helps you to predict the ongoing condition and performance of your assets so you can plan an optimal replacement program. MRP Water lets you combine structural condition prediction from a range of asset maintenance, quality customer and service level information to allow a holistic replacement program that meets the drivers and policies of your utility exactly.

MRP provides you with a geospatial tool that:

• Computes the future condition of water mains
• Predicts the rate of change in condition and performance over time and future deterioration
• Allows for the evaluation and comparison of different multi-year replacement programs
• Facilitates the development of replacement strategies based on capital expenditure budgets, or regulatory requirements for replacement or leak reduction

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MRP - Mains Replacement Prioritization

Following MWH soft announcement of the International Geoengineering Conference here are the Conference Brochure and the Technical Program.

From FlowMetrix web site:

The MLOG concept
The MLOG sensor is a low-cost, battery powered waterproof sensor, permanently installed near a water service meter.

MLOG sensors are installed by field crews, working from an installation plan developed with the MLOG software program. Installation can advantageously be performed on the same schedule as meter or Automatic Meter Reading (AMR)equipment.

MLOG Analysis
Every night each MLOG sensor records vibrations over a period of 4 hours. The recordings are processed to characterize evolving nighttime sound patterns over days and months. The processed patterns are stored in the memory and transmitted by radio on demand. MLOG PC software analyzes all available data from the entire distribution system and assigns each MLOG sensor a leak status.

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MLOG - Leak Detection System

From the Chicago Public Library Digital Collection:

Beneath our feet lies a vast labyrinth of pipes and tunnels. These passageways, the sewer system, are central to the health of our community. Today most Chicagoans take the existence of the sewer system for granted. Yet for most of the City’s first seven decades the defining struggle for Chicago’s continued existence was not the Great Fire of 1871, but its battle with sewage. In the process, streets were raised; channels were dug; an industrial empire launched; tunnels bored miles beneath Lake Michigan; and new technologies invented.

In 1900, Chicago took the astonishing step of reversing the Chicago River, making it the first river to flow away from its mouth. The feat was called one of the seven engineering marvels of the world. In 1922, the flow of a second river, the Calumet, would also be reversed.

To the present day Chicago remains a leader in the technology of urban infrastructure, just beneath our feet and down the drain.

For the full tour of Chicago’s sewer system, past to present, click here.

From Wallingford Software web site:

InfoWorks WS offers the most effective way to achieve an accurate view of the performance of your network and meet your various objectives. Water quality, the effective management of water supply during drought conditions, the identification of weaknesses in the network infrastructure and many other issues can all be monitored and remedies identified through the development and ongoing maintenance of a high quality all mains model.

Click to enlarge

InfoWorks WS includes the following simulation modules:

• Dynamic Water Quality Module: analyses water quality components of a water supply network system
• Autocalibration Module: an invaluable tool for fine tuning model calibration
• Fire Flow Analysis Module
• Sediment Module: integrates hydraulic modeling with sedimentation modeling
• InfoWorks ‘Viewer’: everything appears just as it does in InfoWorks WS. It is fully functional with respect to its ability to view data and results in the various graphical and tabular views

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InfoWorks WS (Water Supply)