Lebanon Council of Development and Reconstruction Adopts MWH Soft Advanced Geospatial Technology

Lebanon’s Water Authorities Embrace InfoWater Suite to Support Large-Scale Enterprise GIS Hydraulic Modeling

Broomfield, Colorado USA, March 29, 2006 - MWH Soft, a leading global provider of environmental and water resources applications software, today announced that the Council of Development and Reconstruction in Lebanon (CDR) has elected to deploy multiple licenses of InfoWater Suite, the industry’s premier ArcGIS-centric (ESRI, Redlands, California) infrastructure modeling and optimization software, at the water authorities of Beirut, Mount Lebanon, and the Bekaa. The selection is the latest example of the global move toward MWH Soft’s advanced geospatial infrastructure modeling and management solutions. CDR plans to harness the power of InfoWater Suite to support the establishment of a more advanced, complete information system designed to facilitate daily operations in the water authorities.

A commercial and tourist center of the Middle East, Lebanon is a water-surplus state in a water-deficit region, with a geographical area of 10,452 sq. km and a population of 3.8 million. The country has been rebuilding its water infrastructure since 1992, and more than 2,500 km of pipelines have been constructed. The country is served by four water authorities that manage, operate and maintain a potable water infrastructure comprising 141 sources, 27 treatment works, 470 boreholes, 161 pumping stations, and 1,085 reservoirs. The water authorities aim at achieving international standards, defined as continuous provision of potable water as well as wastewater services extending to all households, by the year 2015. The implementation of most capital investment projects falls under the responsibility of the Council for Development and Reconstruction. Over the past decade, CDR has managed approximately 290 contracts with a total value of about $930 million. Some 100 of these projects are still ongoing.

The deployment of InfoWater is a key part of a complete utility information system project awarded to Khatib & Alami (K&A), MWH Soft’s certified representative in the Middle East and a leading utility solutions provider, and Adelior Gestion, a French consulting and software development firm. K&A will deploy ESRI and MWH Soft’s advanced geospatial technologies and develop interfaces with other leading business applications, including financial, customer information and asset management, to deliver a comprehensive utility information solution. The integrated system will enable timely and accurate capture, documentation, and sharing of information for better project management, improved productivity and operations, and enhanced customer service.

“CDR and the Lebanese water authorities are true innovators in business and information management streamlining,” said Mounia Bedran, GIS Consulting Manager at Khatib & Alami. “This important project will optimize the Council’s business process applications to assist the water authorities in delivering improved customer service, raising quality standards, and increasing productivity and efficiency at maximum cost savings.”

K&A evaluated several water distribution modeling and management systems prior to selecting InfoWater. “InfoWater Suite was the only choice that met all of the demanding hydraulic modeling and geospatial analysis requirements of the project,” said Adel AbouJaoude, Ph.D, a leading hydraulic engineering expert and Head of Environmental Engineering Department at K&A. “InfoWater’s ease of learning and use, seamless ArcGIS integration, powerful analysis tools, breadth of functionality, and unparalleled computational capabilities will give our clients dividends in time, cost, and productivity for decades to come.”

MWH Soft InfoWater Suite advanced geocentric water distribution modeling and optimization technology has a strong history of helping utilities significantly improve productivity, accelerate project completion cycles, enhance quality, ensure data consistency, and promote collaboration across engineering, planning and GIS teams. With water utilities under tremendous pressure to deliver increasingly complex engineering projects on time and under budget, the innovative InfoWater network analysis technology is proving invaluable. Because it addresses every facet of utility infrastructure management, optimization and protection, InfoWater Suite allows utilities to increase profitability and efficiency across all stages of a project. By automating key planning, operations and design engineering tasks, it helps water utilities conceive and evaluate various scenarios; pinpoint system deficiencies; and determine the most cost-effective improvements to achieve optimum performance and regulatory compliance, meet new security challenges, provide better services, and forge closer ties with customers.

“Lebanon’s water authorities have a long-standing tradition of engineering excellence,” said Paul F. Boulos, Ph.D, President and COO of MWH Soft. “They are known for their commitment to equipping their superlative engineers and GIS professionals with the very best tools for delivering exceptional customer service. The fact that InfoWater is their modeling software of choice speaks volumes about its value and superiority. We’re proud to know that our software applications are in place at many of the world’s best-run utility companies of every size, helping them meet their corporate and strategic goals, remain on the cutting edge of the water industry, and achieve world-class performance at breakthrough cost savings.”

About Khatib & Alami
Khatib & Alami (K&A), a leading GIS solutions provider, launched its multidisciplinary architectural and engineering consulting services in Lebanon in 1963 and broadened the focus of its professional activities as its experience and resources grew. The company and its affiliated partnerships and companies operate in a number of countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Sultanate of Oman, Qatar, Kingdom of Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Sudan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iraq and the United States. K&A employs more than 1,550 engineers, technicians, and administrators. Since 1984, it has continuously ranked among the top 100 international design firms as published by Engineering News-Record. Khatib & Alami has earned the ISO 9001-2000 certification for its Quality Management System. More information on the firm can be found at www.khatibalami.com.

About MWH Soft
MWH Soft is a leading global provider of technical and infrastructure software and professional solutions designed to meet the technological needs of utilities, government industries, and engineering organizations worldwide. Its clients include the majority of the largest North American cities and ENR top design firms. The multifaceted, state-of-the-art CAD and GIS enabled products created by MWH Soft empower thousands of engineers across the globe to competitively manage, design, and operate highly efficient and reliable infrastructure systems. For more information, call MWH Soft at (626) 568-6868, or visit www.mwhsoft.com

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