Planning the creation of a model and initial model construction

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Once you’ve considered all the critical factors necessary to build a model in InfoWater Pro,

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you are ready to start the planning steps.

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However, there is some prep work to be done before actually creating the model.

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Collect all the information necessary to build your model.

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Create a system schematic if one does not exist.

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You can build one using maps and the system’s GIS (or create by hand if desired).

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Next, you can proceed to preliminary construction of the InfoWater Pro model.

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Construct water facilities such as wells, pump stations and tanks in the model.

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It can be extremely helpful to use record drawings of every facility so that you have views of every pump station

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and reservoir / tank site, not to mention making an actual site visit if able.

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This allows you to understand how piping is connected and configured.

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If your client’s GIS is well built and maintained,

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it is possible this information is there but it may not be at a practical scale to import directly into the model.

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Input facility information such as well, pump, and clear well elevations;

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elevated and ground storage tank geometry;

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number of pumps; variable speed pump control data as applicable; and pump curve data.

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Using pump manufacturers’ record shop drawings can aid in inputting pump curves with the greatest accuracy,

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so the program makes as little interpolation of the pump curves as possible.

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You also need good elevation data that you can enter into the model.

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This data is usually readily available in the form of aerial photography,

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and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) data.

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Good elevation data is key to accurate pressure data.

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Once the model is fully constructed,

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you need to establish pressure zones.

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The InfoWater Pro Pressure Zone Manager (PZM) can identify different hydraulic zones

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based on the model’s boundary conditions.

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The next step is quality assurance and quality control, or QA/QC.

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You need to check how pressure zones are assigned by examining the elements in each pressure zone polygon.

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Just remember that this data is not perfectly accurate.

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Verifying connectivity is also a crucial QA/QC step.

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By using InfoWater Pro’s connectivity tools you can locate issues such as nodes in close proximity

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which can be merged, diameter discrepancies and pipes which cross but should intersect.

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This step is important to ensure that the model represents actual system conditions to the maximum extent practicable.

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Finally, with input from your client, you need to decide whether the model will have a one-to-one match with GIS,

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or will be a skeletonized representation of the distribution system.