MWH Soft Enters Asset Management Market with Best-in-Class Geocentric Technology
Revolutionary New CapPlan Optimizes Short-, Medium- and Long-Term Infrastructure
Investment Planning for Wastewater Utilities Worldwide
Broomfield, Colorado USA, March 2008 — MWH Soft, a leading global provider of environmental and water resources applications software, once again moved the wastewater industry to the head of the line in key new business planning capabilities with the release of InfoSWMM CapPlan, a new generation of geocentric decision support software for wastewater infrastructure management and risk assessment.
Rapid population growth and deterioration of aging infrastructures, in some cases dating back more than 100 years — have put sewer systems worldwide under considerable stress. Increasingly, that stress is causing sewer surcharges, backups and failures that directly impact human health and the environment while increasing agency liabilities. The usual localized “find and repair as you go” approach is not cost-effective or reliable, and may not even improve overall collection system performance.
CapPlan uses state-of-the-art CCTV data analysis to assess both the structural condition of the entire system and the probability and consequence of failure for each asset. Armed with this big-picture view, wastewater utilities can now create fully prioritized short- and long-term sewer rehabilitation, maintenance and management plans and develop sound, cost-effective capital programs to support them.
Once a system’s structural condition has been assessed using CCTV data, CapPlan generates a prioritized list of sewer pipes requiring rehabilitation or replacement. The most cost-effective rehabilitation methodology for each pipe (with one or more major defects or multiple minor defects) is then determined by considering a number critical factors including hydraulic capacity needs, methodology limitations, physical pipe characteristics (e.g., age, diameter, material), surface restoration, unit costs, length of point repairs to total pipe length, and other utility-specific criteria.
Sewer assets can also be evaluated in terms of the probability and consequence of failure based on predictive deterioration, failure history and CCTV data. Probability of failure is normally described as number of collapses per mile (km) per year for various pipe materials and diameters and number of blockages per mile (km) per year as a function of pipe material and age. Consequence of failure ranking depends on such data as pipe attributes, number of connected customers and proximity to critical facilities (e.g., schools, hospitals, fire stations). Assets affecting system operation will normally rate high on the consequence scale, while assets in poor condition will have a high probability of failure. The risk of each asset is then calculated as the product (multiplication) of its probability and consequence of failure. Greatest attention should be given to those sewer assets with the highest risk. This evaluation enables the utility to create a prioritized list of the maintenance and capital improvements that will best help to achieve optimum service levels.
Powerful, comprehensive and engineer-friendly, CapPlan for InfoSWMM reflects MWH Soft’s time-honored practice of continually adding value to its world-class software and bringing critical new infrastructure design and management capabilities to the water/wastewater industry. The program’s intuitive interface, easy-to-use functionality and rich analytical, graphing and reporting capabilities save utilities considerable resources by allowing them to quickly and easily pinpoint assets with the greatest risk of hydraulic deficiencies or structural failure, identify optimal rehabilitation methods and avoid future sewer backups or overflows.
“Value and versatility are the words that best describe MWH Soft’s CapPlan,” commented Souheil Nasr, P.E., Principal Engineer for Everett’s Department of Public Works, Washington. “CapPlan has the power to help wastewater utilities worldwide improve and sustain their sanitary sewer systems at minimum costs. With CapPlan, we will be able to quickly convert our CCTV videos of thousands of feet of sewer pipes into prioritized rehabilitation projects, and produce biddable construction contract documents for all needed improvements. The program is also easy to learn and use, and seamlessly integrates with ESRI’s ArcGIS — making it an even more valuable tool.”
“MWH Soft has a deep understanding of our industry’s needs and a rich history of commitment to providing comprehensive, user-friendly and advanced software tools that break down barriers in the engineering design community in the interest of getting the job done,” said Paul F. Boulos, Ph.D, President and COO of MWH Soft. “This groundbreaking asset management solution is the latest example of our company’s steadfast commitment to innovation and responsiveness to our customers’ needs. We are proud to release another landmark product that will make an immediate impact on our users’ productivity and performance, and a positive difference in people’s lives and the ecological health of our nation’s waterways — saving time and money in the process.”
This release is just the beginning, Boulos added. “We have major objectives for CapPlan. In months to come, it will grow very quickly to include even more powerful features and capabilities.”
Pricing and Availability
CapPlan for InfoSWMM is now available by subscription worldwide. For the latest information on the MWH Soft Subscription Program, including availability and purchase requirements, visit www.mwhsoft.com or contact your local MWH Soft Certified Representative.
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