PORTLAND, OR, Jan. 23, 2007 -- The Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC), located in Rhode Island, has selected DHI Water & Environment's MIKE URBAN package to evaluate design alternatives for their Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Abatement plan.
The NBC was created in 1980 and is currently the owner and operator of Rhode Island's two largest wastewater treatment facilities with engineering projects including the maintenance and operation of approximately 89 miles of combined sewer interceptors, many of which are more than 100 years old. NBC services 10 sewer communities comprising a population of 360,000 residents, including 8,000 businesses and 160 major industrial users. Historically, each year the 66 CSOs in the NBC District released an estimated 2.2 billion gallons of untreated combined sewage into the Bay and its tributaries. As a result, the NBC has entered into a consent agreement with the Rhode Island Department of Environment Management (RIDEM) to comply with the Federal Clean Water Act in a timely manner.
In 1999, the RIDEM approved NBC's proposed CSO Abatement Plan and construction began in 2001 on a series of deep rock tunnels for stormwater storage. The construction phase of the tunnels is nearing completion and NBC is now entering into the next phase of the project where they must evaluate and optimize design alternatives for integrating the storage tunnels with the existing collection systems.
Following a comprehensive evaluation of available commercial software for modeling combined stormwater and sanitary collection systems, the NBC concluded that MIKE URBAN was the best choice to meet their immediate needs for a reliable, high-performance hydraulic model.
"The fact that we could bring in our old SWMM models directly into MIKE URBAN and then use this data to run a MOUSE model was very advantageous." states Kathryn Kelly. "After seeing the demonstrations by other vendors, it was clear that the MIKE URBAN system had advantages in terms of GIS integration, ease-of-use, data processing tools, and the numerical engines."
NBC relies heavily on their ArcGIS geodatabase for managing the massive amounts of infrastructure data, so it was important that the selected modeling system be able to integrate this data into the model building and maintenance process for the life of the project over the next 10 years.
"We liked the fact that MIKE URBAN also works directly with a geodatabase, and we were impressed with the ability of the MIKE URBAN system to easily integrate with our
system." states Ms. Kelly. "We are also aware of DHI's long history of excellence in sewer modeling technology and innovation, and we wanted to feel comfortable that our investment would be maintained through continued development and technical support for years to come. Finally, price was also a significant consideration, and when it was all said-and-done, we were confident that the MIKE URBAN system provided us with the best overall value for the money."
For more information on this project, or to see how MIKE URBAN can help you to meet your wastewater collection system modeling needs, please contact Patrick Delaney, Vice President, DHI Water & Environment, Inc. ([email protected]).
Based in Portland, OR, DHI Inc. (www.dhi.us) is the North American subsidiary of DHI Water & Environment, a world leader in the research, development and application of technologies and solutions for water-related issues. With over 30 years of experience, DHI has established a worldwide reputation for excellence and innovation in the field of water science and engineering, and today we continue to push the envelop in search of better solutions for our clients, for our environment, and for our future.
DHI (www.dhigroup.com) is an independent research and consultancy organization, formed by merging the Danish Hydraulic Institute, VKI - Institute for the Water Environment, and Danish Toxicology Centre. Its headquarters are in Horsholm, Denmark, with offices in Australia, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates and the United States. DHI has representative offices in Brazil, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam and an extensive agents network.
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