New daily demand patterns and the financial reality

What happens when a national crisis interrupts your modeling project? WithersRavenel (WR) and Beaufort County (BC) were in the midst of calibrating a new hydraulic model when the COVID-19 pandemic engulfed the Nation. This model will provide operational guidance for the County’s entire system, which consists of seven (7) separate districts. The model calibration is especially unique due to the following conditions: 1) Demand variance results in multidirectional flow within a pipe, 2) Supply and purchase water contract with the Town of Washington, and 3) Small diameter water mains from past acquisition of privately owned neighborhood water systems, 4) Pamlico River splits the system in half.

With the aid of the County’s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), Ferguson was able to team with WR in capturing water usage data to help define past, present, and future demand. This valuable information allowed WR and BC to evaluate a multitude of operational conditions reflective of pre-pandemic usage as well as data obtained during the pandemic to be held as a comparison for post-pandemic operational funding. This presentation will cover the challenges of developing a successful calibrated hydraulic water model during a National crisis while simultaneously addressing fluctuating operational conditions for multiple interconnected systems.

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