3 Water modelling the western bay way
Annual Conference
❄
Until 2008 Western Bay of Plenty District Council’s modelling data had been collected through a third party professional service provider. The intent of all stormwater, wastewater and water models was to provide input to respective Asset Management Plans. The main goal of those models was to identify undersized parts of the reticulation in need of upgrading. None of them, with the exception of the water model, were intended to be kept up to date and/or used to optimise system operation.
A review of the existing 3 water models confirmed the potential for changing Council’s approach by improving the quality of models built and ensuring institutional knowledge remained with the asset owner. With the advent of an in-house Council delivery service being established in 2008, the opportunity existed to take up ownership of the modelling process.
The appointment of a Modelling Project Engineer within Council created the possibility to be more involved in model development and to gain better control over the outcome of this process. The responsibility of the Modelling Project Engineer is to manage modelling projects for Council’s 3 water systems.