Innovyze Releases PressureWatch: Breakthrough Real-Time Network Monitoring and Anomaly Detection Software for Smarter Water Utilities

 

Innovyze Releases PressureWatch:
Breakthrough Real-Time Network Monitoring and Anomaly Detection Software
for Smarter Water Utilities

Next Generation Release Raises Bar for Smart Water Network Management Software, Delivers Economic, Operational and Environmental Benefits 

 

Broomfield, Colorado USA, November 27, 2012 — Innovyze, a leading global innovator of wet infrastructure modeling and simulation software and technologies, today announced the release of PressureWatch for drinking water distribution systems. This revolutionary real-time water network monitoring and anomaly detection software extends the utility of smart network modeling to include SCADA data acquisition and predictive forecasting and condition assessment capabilities. It will change the way water utilities around the world use pressure and flow data and network modeling to obtain real-time identification and warning of network performance problems, leaks, breaks, loss of system integrity, and other operational inefficiencies. It also empowers them to foresee and pre-empt future network failures.

Globally, water demand is rising, resources are diminishing, aging water infrastructures are rapidly deteriorating, and the problems of water loss and leakage are relentless. In the U.S. alone, about 237,600 water main breaks occur every year. An estimated seven billion gallons of drinking water are wasted every day — a staggering 1.7 trillion gallons annually.

PressureWatch gives water utility owners and operators the unprecedented ability to visualize and assess their network hydraulic performance in real time and compare current network dynamics with historic data — allowing them to manage their water networks in a more effective and highly proactive way. By enabling them to rapidly detect water-usage deviations, sudden pressure and flow changes and anomalous hydraulic conditions, this state-of-the-art predictive technology puts them at a tremendous advantage in managing their water supply and distribution systems more efficiently and taking rapid, informed actions to minimize water leakage, reduce pipe break frequency, save energy, lower operational and maintenance expenses, enhance water quality, optimize system performance and integrity, increase sustainability, improve service to customers, and ensure regulatory compliance.

Designed for online applications with existing SCADA systems and pressure and flow meters and sensors,PressureWatch automatically reads and analyzes incoming real-time field data, instantly updates the calibrated network model and predicts hydraulic behavior. It then compares this data with natural variation of historical data (based on time of day, day of the week, season of the year, etc.) and uses advanced mathematical, statistical and network solving techniques to pinpoint the onset of anomalous hydraulic events operators can evaluate and act on.

PressureWatch can not only detect anomalous hydraulic conditions resulting from pipe rupture, leak and break incidents, but spot unexpected “normal” events like sensor malfunction and equipment failure. It can also differentiate anomalous events from background variability, minimize the number of missed detections, and compute and report the likelihood of false alarms and screen them out using advanced pattern matching and recognition algorithms. These are fundamental advances in how effectively water utilities operators monitor the operational efficiency and integrity of their networks and take remedial action the moment breaches are detected, quickly mitigating adverse public health and economic impacts. Operators can now make better predictions and smarter decisions, and target more effective interventions. 

Easy to learn and use, PressureWatch is available as a stand-alone Windows program that runs on nearly any computer or as a complementary module of IWLive. Unlike complex “software as a service” (SaaS) solutions, it can be up and running in just a few minutes within the controlled security of the utility’s local computer. At the same time, PressureWatch’s unique integration with network modeling and GIS enables water operators to quickly identify viable solutions (e.g., locate the appropriate valves to close to isolate a main break and determine affected customers) and make decisions on the basis of reliable predictive analytics and system dynamics rather than intuition. These critical differences mark the first time water utilities of all sizes are able to use geospatial network modeling to readily optimize network maintenance and management securely and at very low cost. They also greatly enhance utilities’ ability to prepare for and respond to emergencies.

PressureWatch is an invaluable advance in water distribution network operations, maintenance and management,” said Paul F. Boulos, Ph.D., BCEEM, Hon.D.WRE, Dist.D.NE, F.ASCE, President and Chief Operating Officer of Innovyze. “It will greatly aid water utilities worldwide in improving the efficiency and integrity of their distribution systems and ensuring more reliable operations at maximum cost savings. Since day one, our mission has been to share powerful product development capabilities with the smart water network modeling community and foster its expansion. This new software is a significant leap — one that greatly enhances these experts’ ability to reduce operational and energy costs, extend the lifetime of their assets, improve customer service, conserve valuable resources, and maximize the integrity of their networks’ physical, hydraulic and water quality.PressureWatch exemplifies our ongoing commitment to delivering superior value to our customers who manage, operate and sustain safe, reliable drinking water distribution systems. Innovyze is very proud to offer this groundbreaking new power tool to our clients.”