SewerGEMS is used by engineers to solve sewer system design and operation problems, especially those in systems with direct inflows such as combined sewer systems where hydrologic calculations are important and overflows are a key consideration.
SewerGEMS® is a fully-dynamic, multi-platform, sanitary and combined sewer modeling solution, Engineers can analyze sanitary or combined conveyance sewer systems using built-in hydraulic and hydrology tools and a variety of wet-weather calibration methods. From urban sewer planning to overflow remediation analysis, to optimized Best Management Practices designs, SewerGEMS provides an easy-to-use environment for engineers to analyze, design, and operate sanitary and combined sewer systems.
SewerGEMS is a dynamic wave model to simulate wastewater collection systems. It solves the full St. Venant equations and is especially suited for combined sewer systems where the hydrology of direct runoff into the collection system must be modeled. It is available in four compatible and interoperable interfaces: Stand-alone, Microstation, ArcGIS and AutoCAD. Regardless of the platform used, SewerGEMS users can collaborate maintaining a single set of modeling files for true interoperability across platforms.
Interface and Graphical Editing
Users of SewerGEMS enjoy the power and versatility afforded by working across CAD, GIS, and stand-alone platforms while accessing a single, shared, project data source. With SewerGEMS, utilities and consultants have built-in support for four interoperable platforms, all packaged together in a single product: Windows stand-alone for ease of use, accessibility, and performance, ArcGIS for GIS integration, thematic mapping, and publishing, MicroStation® for bridging geospatial planning and engineering design environments, and AutoCAD for integrated compatibility with CAD platform. Utilities and consultants can share a single dataset using different interfaces, and modeling teams can leverage the skills of engineers from different departments. Engineers can flatten learning curves by choosing the environment they already know and provide results that can be visualized on multiple platforms.
- Stand-alone Windows interface included
- ArcGIS-based interface (ArcMap) included
- MicroStation-based interface included
- AutoCAD-based interface included
- Unlimited undo and redo
- Element morphing, splitting, and reconnection
- Automatic element labeling
- Scaled, schematic, and hybrid environments
- Element prototypes
- Dynamic zooming
- Multiple background file support
- Image, CAD, and GIS background layer support
Interoperability and Data Connections
SewerGEMS allows you to connect with virtually any data source to jumpstart your model building process and maintain your modeling data synchronized with your CAD, GIS, and other data sources.
- Maintain bidirectional connections with shapefiles, databases, and spreadsheets
- Connect with virtually any type of database including ODBC connections
- Automatically create hydraulically coherent models from your existing CAD drawings
- Enjoy a single set of model files for four compatible interfaces
- Polyline-to-pipe conversion from DXF and DWG files
- Shapefile, Geodatabase, Geometric Network and SDE support
- Navigate your network to discover topological and connectivity issues
- Find and fix orphaned nodes and dead-end pipes resulting from inconsistent source data
Layout, Model Building, and Data Management
Simplify data input, shorten workflows, and streamline your model building and editing process with a wealth of productivity tools. The ArcGIS interface in SewerGEMS allows GIS professionals to leverage ESRI’s geodatabase architecture to guarantee a single dataset for modeling and GIS. They can create, edit, calculate, and visualize SewerGEMS models directly from ArcMap with full access to every hydraulic and hydrology modeling tool. Engineers can leverage geospatial data, CAD drawings, databases, and spreadsheets to jumpstart the model building process. SewerGEMS provides synchronized database connections, geospatial links, and advanced model-building modules that connect with virtually any digital data format. SewerGEMS also provides drawing and connectivity review tools to guarantee a hydraulically coherent model.
- Set up element prototypes to streamline data entry
- Enter information once, and use it many times with SewerGEM’s engineering libraries
- Build and share your own engineering attribute libraries
- Automatic engineering unit conversion and customizable display precision
- Use flexible tabular reports with global editing and persistent attribute filtering
- Leverage scaled background layers as a drawing reference
- SewerGEMS automatically enters pipe lengths when working in scaled mode.
- Design your sewer system with confidence with unlimited undo and redo
- Automatic element labeling system
- Split pipes, morph elements, and reconnect pipes on the fly
- Discover topological and connectivity issues and fix them instantly
- Spreadsheet, database, shapefile, and ODBC connections
Model management
- Unlimited scenarios and alternatives
- Comprehensive scenario management
- Tabular reports global editing
- Sorting and persistent filtering on tabular reports
- Statistical analysis from tabular reports
- Customizable engineering libraries
- Dynamic and static selection sets
- Global engineering-units management
- Drawing review tools for connectivity consistency
- Automatic topology review
- Orphaned node and dead-end pipe queries
Comprehensive Scenario Management
SewerGEMS’s Scenario Management gives engineers full control to configure, run, evaluate, visualize, and compare an unlimited number of what-if scenarios within a single file. Engineers can easily make decisions by comparing unlimited scenarios to evaluate design, operational, sanitary loading and even network topology strategies for better decision-making support.
- Rehabilitation alternatives for multiple planning horizons
- Pump control strategies for energy-saving operation
- Sewer design approaches with varying peak flow methods
- Overflow scenarios with varying future wastewater flows
Hydraulics and operations
The two dynamic engines of SewerGEMS account for storage effects within structures and quantify overflows should they occur. The flexibility of choosing between the EPA-SWMM engine as well as an extremely fast, stable implicit engine to solve the complete set of wave components behind the Saint Venant equations gives added comfort to those modelers that are accustomed to modeling with SWMM and familiar with its capabilities and limitations.
- Two engines for solving the full set of St. Venant equations included
- Implicit dynamic engine included
- Explicit dynamic engine included (EPA-SWMM)
- Aquifer simulation
- Pollution analysis with optional definition of land use
categories and land surface characteristics
- Treatment analysis
- Rule-based controls
- Variable-speed pumping
Wastewater and Stormwater Loading Allocation and Estimation
The LoadBuilder™ module included in SewerGEMS helps engineers allocate sewer loads based on a variety of GIS-based sources such as customer water use billing data, area-wide flow measurement or polygons with known population or land use.
Sewer loading in SewerGEMS can also be applied as user-defined hydrographs, pattern-based loads, and unit loads. Engineers can access and customize the comprehensive unit (dry weather) load engineering library with numerous typical unit loads based on population, area, count, and discharge. SewerGEMS also allows users to input and save an unlimited number of flow patterns, to accurately model flow changes over the course of a day. In addition engineers can load models with wet weather runoff flows derived from precipitation, using the built-in rainfall distributions in SewerGEMS, or user-defined rainfall events. Runoff flows are modeled and calibrated using a choice of hydrograph methods, including RTK, SCS, Modified Rational, EPA-SWMM, or user-defined generic unit hydrographs.
Sanitary load allocation and estimation
- Automatic sanitary load allocation from geospatial data
- Geospatial load allocation from billing meters
- Load allocation using flow monitoring distribution
- Land use-based load distribution
- Sewer load assignment based on phased land use projections and population projections
- Dry-weather load assignment using hydrographs, unit loads, and pattern-based loads
- Customizable area-, count-, discharge-, and population based unit sanitary loading library
- Inflow and infiltration calibration using RTK tables
Stormwater load allocation and estimation
- Infiltration and runoff methods: SCS Runoff, CN with automatic CN weighting, Loss, Green and Ampt, Horton (User Defined), EPA SWMM Runoff
- Time of concentration methods: User-Defined, Carter, Eagleson, Espey/Winslow, Federal
- Aviation Agency, Kerby/Hathaway, Kirpich (PA and TN), Length and Velocity, SCS Lag,
TR-55 Sheet Flow, TR-55 Shallow Concentrated Flow, and TR-55 Channel Flow
- Hydrograph methods: Generic unit hydrograph, RTK, SCS, EPA SWMM, and Modified Rational
Results presentation
- Direct ArcMap visualization and mapping
- Thematic mapping
- Dynamic, multi-parameter, and multi-scenario graphing
- Advanced dynamic profiling
- Advanced tabular reporting with FlexTables®
- Property-based color coding and symbology
- Property-based annotation