Dependable Wastewater Model Will Help City Engineers Facilitate Flexible
Infrastructure Master Planning, Rehabilitation Sequencing, and Development Capacity Allocation

EXTON, Pa. – The city of Phoenix, Ariz., has acquired Bentley’s SewerGEMS multiplatform software for sanitary sewer systems to enhance its ability to analyze, design, and operate its extensive wastewater infrastructure. The infrastructure serves approximately 1.5 million residents and includes about 5,000 miles of sewer mains and 92,000 sewer manholes. Through their use of SewerGEMS, engineers with the city’s Water Services Department will be able to create a dependable wastewater model that will facilitate flexible master planning, rehabilitation sequencing, development capacity allocation, and sanitary sewer overflow warnings, while improving the efficiency of daily operations.

Over the last few years, the water department’s wastewater planning efforts have been moving away from a “predict and plan” approach to the more proactive practice of “anticipate and prepare.” The problem is, predictions of future growth areas and likely growth rates, changing weather patterns, water appliance efficiencies, and customer behavior are highly unreliable, offering little insight into conditions for which the water department must prepare.

Erich Lais, P.E., city of Phoenix civil engineer III, said, “By developing and analyzing our wastewater model with SewerGEMS’ built-in hydraulic and hydrology tools, wet-weather calibration methods, Scenario Control Center, and many other capabilities, we will be able to explore a broad range of possible future factors and develop a plan to prepare for each. As a result, we will be better able to adapt to changing conditions and consequent wastewater system requirements, enabling us to continue to meet our customers’ needs.”

The city of Phoenix acquired SewerGEMS to complement the WaterGEMS license it acquired in 2007 to model and analyze its water distribution system. Because SewerGEMS includes the same model management tools and has a user interface very similar to that of WaterGEMS, it will be very easy for the city’s project teams to use this new software.

About SewerGEMS

From urban sewer planning to overflow remediation analysis to optimized best management practices designs, SewerGEMS provides an easy-to-use environment for engineers to analyze, design, and operate sanitary and combined sewer systems. Users of SewerGEMS can work across four interoperable platforms, including MicroStation, ArcGIS, AutoCAD, and a Windows stand-alone platform, while accessing a single, shared project data source. This means modeling teams can leverage the skills of engineers from different departments, and engineers can flatten learning curves by choosing the environment they already know – while providing results that can be visualized on multiple platforms. For additional information about SewerGEMS, visit www.bentley.com/en-US/Products/SewerGEMS.

About the City of Phoenix Water Services Department

The City of Phoenix Water Services Department has consistently provided a reliable supply of drinking water and wastewater services that meets or surpasses all standards for health and safety at a cost lower than most cities in the Southwest. More than 90 percent of the water delivered to its 1.5 million customers comes from water sources such as lakes, rivers, and streams. The remaining water delivered to its customers comes from groundwater (wells). The surface water is treated at one of six water treatment plants. For additional information about the City of Phoenix Water Services Department, visit http://phoenix.gov/WATER/aboutus.html.

About Bentley Systems, Incorporated

Bentley is the global leader dedicated to providing architects, engineers, constructors, and owner-operators with comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure. Founded in 1984, Bentley has more than 2,700 colleagues and offices in more than 45 countries, achieved in 2008 the milestone of $500 million in revenues, and, since 1995, has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions.

For additional information about Bentley, visit www.bentley.com. To subscribe to an RSS feed of Bentley press releases and news alerts, visit www.bentley.com/rss/news. To view a searchable collection of innovative infrastructure projects from the annual Be Inspired Awards, visit www.bentley.com/yearininfrastructure. For information about Be Communities, a professional networking site that enables members of the infrastructure community to connect, communicate, and learn from each other, visit http://communities.bentley.com.

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Bentley, the “B” Bentley logo, Be, SewerGEMS, MicroStation, and WaterGEMS are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. All other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.