Most
water utilities have experience with and have come to rely
on water distribution modeling in some form to ensure they
can meet water demands of their communities. For water systems,
insufficient capacity to meet demand results in immediate
and obvious feedback through issues such as low fire flow
and low service pressures.
Unlike
their water utility counterparts, an inordinate number of
wastewater utilities tend to take a “wait and see” approach
when it comes to evaluating the impact of increase demand and
other issues on the capacity of their sanitary sewer system.
Many have either never implemented a sanitary sewer hydraulic
model or do not use hydraulic modeling in day-to-day operations.
Today’s
hydraulic modeling systems have leveraged advances in GIS as
well as flow and rainfall monitoring to create an easy to use
capacity assurance tool available to the whole organization.
Establishing
a capacity bench mark and continuously evaluating the impact
of increasing customer demand and other issues against this
bench mark should be a key component in the management and
operation of every wastewater utility. Much like a bank account,
knowing your current value and monitoring the cost of each
new connection is the only means to guard against being overdrawn. |
