OpenFlows WaterGEMS – 1,000 Pipes

Frequently Asked Questions

What is WaterGEMS?

A hydraulic modeling application, WaterGEMS provides an easy-to-use environment for you to confidently analyze, design, and optimize your water distribution systems. With advanced interoperability, geospatial model building, optimization, and asset management capabilities, WaterGEMS supports your engineering workflows from fire flow and water quality analysis, to energy consumption and capital cost management.

How much does WaterGEMS cost?

A practitioner license of OpenFlows WaterGEMS costs $5,859 – $14,644 USD depending on the desired pipes. Prices also vary per region. While there are various types of licensing available, a common choice is the 12-month practitioner license offered through Virtuosity, Bentley’s eCommerce store. When you purchase through Virtuosity, you get a Virtuoso Subscription. This means you get the software and “Keys” (tokens) to redeem for customizable training, mentoring, and consulting services.

What can WaterGEMS help me do?

• Grow with confidence
  Whenever system growth is anticipated, effectively identify potential problem areas, accommodate service area growth, and plan capital improvements.

• Minimize disruptions
  Operation of complex water systems can be difficult. Avoid disruptions by realistically modeling system inefficiencies, optimize pumping strategies, and planning for shutdowns and routine operations.

• Prioritize renewal decisions 
  Renewing or replacing your systems can be overwhelming with the amount of information to consider. Make this task easier when you analyze and compare a wide range of variables for system sustainability.

• Work in multiple platforms seamlessly
  Eliminate the frustration and enjoy the power and versatility of working across CAD, GIS, and stand-alone platforms while accessing a single, shared, project data source. With superior interoperability, choose from Windows stand-alone, ArcGIS for GIS integration, MicroStation, and AutoCAD.

• Synchronize model building
  Jumpstart your modeling process with geospatial data, CAD drawings, databases, and spreadsheets. Easily connect with virtually any digital data format to allocate water demands and node elevations with geospatial data found in shapefiles, geodatabases, various types of DEMs, and even CAD drawings.

• Avoid manual-input mistakes
  Drawing and connectivity review tools guarantee a hydraulically coherent model. Automatically remove network complexity while maintaining hydraulic equivalence, to tackle a wide range of modeling applications more efficiently.

• Optimize model calibration, design, and operations
  Use state-of-the-art genetic algorithm optimization engines to make reliable decisions based on accurate hydraulic simulations of the real world. Evaluate millions of possible solutions to quickly find a calibration hypothesis that best matches measured flows, pressures, and on/off status.

• Forecast operating conditions and potential issues
  Easily publish WaterGEMS model results to existing SCADA control room screens to support forecasting. Create a real-time simulator that accurately represents current system conditions.

• Readily identify cost savings
  Analyze data automatically to quickly identify the most energy-efficient pump scheduling strategy, or how to minimize energy use to reduce costs.

What is SCADAConnect?

WaterGEMS’ SCADAConnect module lets you automatically acquire supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data, creating a real-time system simulator that accurately represents current system conditions. It also enables WaterGEMS model results to be published to a utility’s existing SCADA control room screen(s), helping to forecast operating conditions and potential issues.

What is Darwin Designer?

Darwin Designer automatically finds maximum benefit or minimum-cost designs and rehabilitation strategies, based on available budget, construction cost, and pressure and velocity constraints. You can also analyze energy consumption to identify the most energy-efficient pump scheduling strategy. Darwin Scheduler optimizes the operations of fixed- and variable-speed pumps, and tank storage, to minimize energy usage or energy cost, based on pressure, velocity, pump start, and tank level constraints. Energy costs can be aggregated across pumping stations and factor in complex tariffs as well as non-model-related energy costs, to perform net present value analysis of your operating scenarios.

What is the difference between OpenFlows WaterCAD and WaterGEMS?

WaterGEMS is a superset of WaterCAD. WaterGEMS includes a standalone version plus the integration with three platforms MicroStation, AutoCAD, and ArcGIS. Additionally, WaterGEMS comes with six modules for optimal operation planning and automatized model calibration that are not included in WaterCAD: 1) Pipe Renewal Planner 2) Darwin Designer 3) Darwin Calibrator 4) Darwin Scheduler 5) Skelebrator 6) SCADAConnect.

Do I have to use WaterGEMS inside of ArcGIS?

No. WaterGEMS can be used as a standalone product. Additionally, enjoy the power and versatility of working across multiple applications with superior interoperability. Choose from Windows stand-alone, ArcGIS for GIS integration, MicroStation, and AutoCAD.

Do I have to purchase functional modules for WaterGEMS?

No. Unlike other platforms, WaterGEMS includes all calculation capabilities.