About GIS in the water/wastewater industry
People in the water/wastewater industry use GIS with the
planning, engineering, operations, maintenance, finance, and administration functions of their
water/wastewater networks. Look at the following examples to see how GIS is being used
every day and how you too can use GIS.
You can use GIS to
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Assess Sanitary Sewer Systems
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You can use a GIS to assess the current and future demands on water and sewer lines.
Black & Veatch use GIS to assess the City of Garland's sewer system.
The GIS calculates sewage flows by combining land use,
total population, and employment data for each "sewershed."
The GIS then runs different sewershed models and displays the results for evaluation.
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Inventory and Monitor Water/Wastewater Systems
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The Board of Public Works (BPW) for Holland, Michigan, replaced its old water/wastewater manual inventory system with GIS.
The GIS allows each department to update their data and maintain integrity automatically. This example shows the Water/Wastewater Department's data editor.
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Louisville and Jefferson County use GIS to help establish a capital wastewater program.
They use the GIS to identify sewer interceptors, pump stations, force mains, assessments, and
existing sewer projects. Once identified, the features and projects are mapped within the entire system.
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Assess Water Quality
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The King County, Washington, Department of Metropolitan Services uses a GIS to assess water quality throughout the County.
The GIS provides the users with the ability to use all water quality samples collected within the County or only selected samples in the analysis process. Samples are then analyzed and displayed using the GIS.
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Determine the Effects Disasters Have on Water and Sewer Lines
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A GIS can help identify and locate which utilities are affected by a disaster such as an earthquake.
The City of Los Angeles used a GIS to locate sewer lines that were damaged during the 1994 Northridge
earthquake and group them into repair projects. The same information was used to identify which communities
were affected and establish prioritized repair schedules of the damaged lines.
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There are many other ways GIS can help you manage your water/wastewater networks. Visit ESRI's Water/Wastewater vertical
market page and learn how you can use GIS in your organization, or return to the About GIS main page
for more examples of how GIS is being used
every day to solve a variety of problems.
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