Leading Risk-Based Capital Planning Package for Water Infrastructure Adds Powerful New Features
Broomfield, Colorado USA, December 8, 2010 — MWH Soft, a leading global innovator of wet infrastructure modeling and simulation software and technologies, today announced the worldwide availability of the V3.5 generation of CapPlan Water, once again raising the bar for advanced water modeling and management software. Running on MWH Soft’s industry-leading GIS-centric InfoWater package, CapPlan V3.5 adds numerous scoring options for better determination of likelihood and consequence of failure for underground infrastructure.
CapPlan Water changes the way water utilities plan the relative phasing of system improvements by allowing users to assess both the probability and consequence of failure for each asset. Assets that affect system operation will normally rate high on the consequence scale, while assets in poor condition will have a high probability of failure. In addition to refinements throughout, the latest release adds the ability to make consequence or likelihood of failure calculations based on GIS fields using virtually any mathematical function. This gives utilities the unique ability to directly apply any custom-developed methodology to their capital planning processes.
“CapPlan Water’s new features allow much greater flexibility in defining system-specific criteria, which is a real benefit for assisting utilities with risk-based asset management and capital planning,” commented Seth Garrison, Senior Management Consultant for Camp Dresser & McKee (CDM) in Cambridge, MA. “CapPlan Water can analyze GIS, hydraulic modeling, and failure information simultaneously. This is critical for developing an accurate understanding of asset performance. MWH Soft has been very responsive about enhancing CapPlan to meet the evolving needs of utilities.”
Probability of failure is determined based on the pipe’s physical condition (structural integrity, age, material, roughness factor, leakage/break/defect history) and location (proximity to a seismic fault or construction zone) as well as its hydraulic performance characteristics (head loss, pressure, velocity). Consequence of failure draws on data such as water outages (schools, hospitals, critical care facilities); low- and no-water conditions; reduced fire protection capabilities; flooding, including structural damage and impacts of chlorinated water in natural waterways; degradation of water quality; and other factors.
Built upon ArcGIS (Esri, Redlands, CA) and InfoWater platforms, CapPlan Water tackles the tough data integrity and processing issues that slow typical large-scale asset management analysis projects. Leveraging the unique InfoWater geodatabase architecture, users can seamlessly work between hydraulic modeling calculations and traditional GIS data to determine probability and consequence scores without cumbersome, error-prone exports and data synching to third-party applications.
CapPlan Water calculates the risk of each asset linearly (consequence score multiplied by probability score), using either a bi-directional distribution matrix or a more complex multi-criterion classification. This choice of calculation methods gives the utility unprecedented flexibility in defining risk based on virtually any combination of supporting data. The greatest attention can then be given to water mains at highest risk. With this evaluation in hand, water utilities can create fully prioritized short- and long-term water main rehabilitation, replacement, maintenance and management plans and develop sound, cost-effective capital programs to support them.
The program’s intuitive interface; easy-to-use functionality; and rich analytical, graphing and reporting capabilities save utilities considerable resources. With minimal effort, users can quickly pinpoint assets at the greatest risk of hydraulic and water quality deficiencies or structural failure, identify the best possible improvement alternatives for optimal system performance, prioritize improvements based on available budget, and realize significant cost savings.
“Strategic asset management has quickly become part of every water infrastructure engineer’s job description,” said Paul F. Boulos, Ph.D., Hon.D.WRE, F.ASCE, President and Chief Operating Officer of MWH Soft. “This is reflected in the overwhelming adoption of CapPlan Water by top water utilities and consulting firms throughout the world. This new version of CapPlan Water delivers capability and a capital planning flow that the water engineering community has been requesting and is the latest example of our company’s steadfast commitment to breakthrough innovation and end-to-end engineering solutions. It provides the advanced functionality water professionals need to help strengthen and optimize their hydraulic infrastructures and keep them operating efficiently well into the future. CapPlan Water will continue to influence water asset management for years to come.”
About MWH Soft
MWH Soft is a leading global provider of wet infrastructure modeling and simulation software and professional solutions designed to meet the technological needs of water/wastewater utilities, government industries, and engineering organizations worldwide. Its clients include the majority of the largest UK, Australasia and North American cities, foremost utilities on all five continents, and ENR top-rated design firms. With unparalleled expertise and offices in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, the MWH Soft connected portfolio of best-in-class product lines empower thousands of engineers to competitively plan, manage, design, protect, operate and sustain highly efficient and reliable infrastructure systems, and provide an enduring platform for customer success. For more information, call MWH Soft at +1 626-568-6868, or visit www.mwhsoft.com.