Eric Suesz
Recently, Representative Diana DeGette (CO-01), joined by Representatives Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Anne McLane Kuster (NH-02), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Chris Pappas (NH-01), and Paul Tonko (NY-20) sent a strong statement to EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan emphasizing the importance of adopting forward-thinking digital technologies in the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s water investments. The letter points out specific ways the U.S. can encourage utilities to improve data gathering and utilization practices that provide real-time insights and predictive maintenance capabilities.
“Digital water design tools can help communities mitigate flooding and drought conditions, reduce stress on water treatment systems, and improve water infrastructure resiliency.”
– Representative Diana DeGette (CO-01)
You don’t have to look far from Washington, D.C. to see how leveraging advanced, commercially available technology can improve water management, and in turn, quality of life for communities. Projects like Jacobs Engineering’s work with Dekalb County Watershed Management in Georgia demonstrates how investing in modern data collection and modeling tools prevents costly and potentially catastrophic rainfall events and sewage overflows in the long run. They were able to leverage their data in InfoWorks ICM to create a significantly more comprehensive Groundwater Infiltration Model (GIM) and calibrate wet weather flows to dynamically account for increases in groundwater, instead of relying on monthly multipliers to estimate rainfall during the wetter months of the year.
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Once utilities have made the leap to more thorough data collection and digital workflows, they open up powerful abilities like calculating the risk of climate-driven flooding far in advance, as Arcadis did for Hong Kong. By tying together multiple sources of data into the software, they were able to build a 200-year predictive model that shows the potential effects of flooding throughout the city – including at its 300+ Mass Transit Railway stations.
As Amy Bunszel, Executive Vice President for Architecture, Engineering and Construction Design Solutions at Autodesk, put it in a recent article for Civil & Structural Engineer, “We’re in a defining moment in the movement to protect our water resources. Aging infrastructure, climate change-induced flooding and droughts, and lead and emerging contaminants, have brought much-needed attention to our water systems. The private and public sectors are coming together to act, and progress is being made. But it will take more attention, more innovation, and maximizing our investments to tackle these challenges. Let’s move forward together, boldly.”
Here at Autodesk, we’re closely monitoring implementation of this historic infrastructure package. We know that digital tools enable more cost-effective, productive, and sustainably designed and managed water systems and stand ready to help water partners at all levels of government to leverage technology to improve America’s water infrastructure.