Salem Water System Model
A large commercial development in the extreme north portion of the City of Salem's distribution system requested city water service. Before committing to provide service, it was the City's desire to determine what affect the large user would have on the rest of the system, while providing uninterrupted service to the existing regional hospital in the same area.
The City retained Archer to model their existing water distribution system and determine the feasibility of providing service to this large commercial user. A map of the existing system was input into PIPE 2000 using the City's aerial photography as a background. A large amount of time was spent with the City Water Department reviewing, updating and correcting their old map of the system. The model was calibrated with existing conditions based upon known system flows and pressures. The proposed extension was modeled and determined the improvements necessary to loop the system in order to provide uninterrupted service to the hospital would not be feasible. In addition, the City purchased a copy of the PIPE 2000 software. Archer personnel loaded the software and the water superintendent was trained to input system extensions, upgrades, maintenance records, etc. The City submits the updated model back to Archer for analysis of the updated system and proposed improvements.
Tools the City has found useful are pipe break analysis and the GIS capabilities of the software.