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Digital Water The desire for a more future-proof water management is a product of a changing climate and the resulting, increasingly capricious weather patterns. To minimize the potential negative impact of these on water management, we need to be capable of anticipating them with targeted measures. The steerability of our water system is essential in this regard. In this context, sensors have for years been a recognized tool in the maintenance and management of water infrastructures. They help monitor their actual condition and facilitate faster and more targeted risk management action. The goal is to maximize data-use effectiveness and thus generate deep and – for water practice – meaningful knowledge about the water system. The growing volume of data now requires from the water sector a combination of vision (data, for what purpose?), focus (which data?), facilities (where to store the data?) and visualization (how to present data?). Vision, focus, facilities and visualization is combined into a practical approach. This involves using a Digital Twin to provide the optimal context for adding societal value to data.  Based on our practical experience, and fueled by the client’s ambitions, we would be glad to discuss your digital water desires. In close collaboration with AvecodeBondt diTTo would be happy to advise you on the utility and necessity of the various dimensions of Digital Water as a Digital Twin component. In that context we offer support in Water Data Management & Storage and facilitate in data presentation through the water data portal facility ARGUS. It facilitates a safe, online platform for the management of water data. This could for instance involve data from hydrological monitoring networks or the Urban Water Buffer, but also data from sensors connected to the water infrastructure to feed your Digital Twin.

Asset Management In the water sector, infrastructure management is vital. Whether it concerns the safety of citizens behind dikes, healthy water or shipping. The water sector is dependent on its assets. Think of dikes, storm surge barriers, locks, distribution networks or sewers. Properties that contribute to a well-functioning water system and a healthy society and a safe land. Practitioners want to make smart and future-proof choices about these assets with the appropriate considerations regarding risks, investments, management and maintenance. Asset owners and asset managers have the important task of mapping out the risks associated with managing assets, weighing them against each other and using available budgets to manage them. Resources must be used as efficiently as possible for often increasingly complex tasks. After all, especially in the water sector, existing assets are exposed to increasingly extreme conditions due to climate change. This means that smart maintenance choices are vital. But how do you prioritize asset maintenance? And what are smart investments? diTTo is supporting organizations with a strategic and practical implementation of their asset management. It does this by combining classic asset management tools with a digital twin approach. This means that these questions can be answered with reasons via “what if” scenario analyses.

Sewer Systems Our current sewer designs are due for renewal. We have been designing according to standardized designs for years,  have separated the rainwater from the wastewater, so that no storage is required for peak showers in the wastewater sewer. But in practice we still use street gullies to guarantee the flow, which is in fact no longer necessary. We therefore still apply a technical measure to prevent a sewer from becoming clogged, while this is not necessary if we consider the hydraulic function to be leading. The result of this exercise is a so-called slim sewer, a system that combines cost efficiency, impeccable hydraulic functioning and a great potential for the recovery of raw materials in the long run. The slim sewer is an extension of the reliable indoor pipe water network that we have been using for years. A closed pipeline network that functions better hydraulically due to the absence of hydraulic dead points (inspection pits, thresholds, etc.). A system that can transport more waste load with less slope and a higher filling level. Key factor is the potential buoyancy created by a higher degree of filling in a tube with a smaller diameter. This results in a faster pressure build-up around the accumulation of solid materials. All this results in a very cost-efficient system, made of light and easy-to-process materials (PVC, PE, PP) that can save up to 40-60% of the current costs.

Resilient Water Systems Rural and peri-urban areas face specific water challenges. After all, agriculture is intensifying in many places, cities are constantly expanding and at the same time more space has to be created for nature. Water plays an important structuring role in these tasks and is increasingly seen as a key factor in the spatial planning of river basins and the associated area processes. In that context, we have experience with solutions in the form of sustainable, resilient and robust water systems. We use intelligent digital instruments for the design, realization and maintenance of such water systems. This task poses a major challenge, because rural areas often have large local differences in land use, which leads to complex design issues. We use our instruments to assist (semi) governments, contractors and area developers. They help to provide insight into the characteristics of the subsurface, the networks and the occupation layer as well as their interactions. We map and visualize with advanced digital instruments by making use of publicly available datasets and those available through the ARGUS Data Portal.  In the field of water management, we specifically map out the functional system of soil and water for specific areas, after which we provide insight into a variety of “what if” scenario questions. Together with our clients we arrive at the most suitable set of measures. These should lead to feasible, manageable and sustainable water system solutions. Examples where we apply this approach are the development of measures to prevent the dehydration of vulnerable nature areas. But it can also be about fitting a road into a vulnerable soil-water system. In a densely populated country, issues such as climate-proof design of urban expansions in rural areas are the order of the day. We offer water specialists knowledge and experience in the field of water system analysis, hydrological effects in spatial developments, the design of climate-robust water systems and the relationship between water infrastructure and groundwater. The SAA program (Schiphol-Amsterdam-Almere) is one of the major infrastructure projects in which we have used this water expertise in conjunction. The aim was to improve the connection between Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam and the rapidly growing city of Almere. The renewal of the A1 motorway between Schiphol, Amsterdam and Almere is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the Netherlands. We arranged the entire water management for this project, including the associated environmental management and permits.

Water Safety More than half of the world's population lives in cities. Two-thirds of the world's largest ones are at high risk of flooding from climate change and the associated sea level rise due to their location on the coast or an estuary. Those who live in river basins outside those kinds of areas also run great risks due to the increasing roughness of the weather and the correspondingly extremely varying water discharge. The latter occasionally result in flashfloods that may cause major damage. We gained our water knowledge by helping to protect large parts of the Netherlands against flooding. This involved not only protecting the coastline with dykes and storm surge barriers, but also structuring the catchment area of ​​the Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt behind the dykes. These low-lying areas are characterized by a very diverse river landscape with a mosaic of cities, peri-urban areas with intensive agriculture and nature. All these areas are intersected by extensive and complex networks of above- and underground infrastructure related to water, energy and traffic and transport. We help to keep this Delta metropolis inhabitable and livable and to protect it against flooding. Our water specialists provide advice in the field of water safety. This concerns the development of new safety concepts, the design of innovative and intelligent water infrastructure as well as maintenance that keeps the infrastructure in optimum condition. In doing so, we take into account the fact that water infrastructure must be compatible with multifunctional land use, which  is the norm rather than the exception in this part of the world. The choice of certain measures often depends on the specific situation;  the natural and built environment, the people who live there, the space that is available and the hinterland. So we help water boards, provinces and contractors to design and realize future-proof and (data) intelligent flood defense systems. We do this on the basis of extensive (digital) analyzes and the efforts of our flood risk management and geotechnical experts. For example, we support the manager in the assessment of existing dykes (management phase), advise in mapping the reinforcement tasks and design preferred alternatives (exploration phase), draw up project plans for the reinforcement of dykes (planning phase) and advise and supervise the implementation of these. improvement plans (realization phase). In addition, safe, strong and future-proof dikes and defenses require well-considered management and maintenance. We offer various digital tools for this…

Resilient Cities Water management is becoming increasingly complex, both above and below ground. One of the drivers is climate change causing the weather becoming more variable and extreme. Urban water issues are pre-eminently complex and multifaceted. For example, there are problems with flooding, but at the same time cities are also drying up due to climate change. In addition to negative effects on urban greenery and thus the quality of life in the city, this has major negative consequences for the built environment such as for the lifespan of the foundations of buildings and infrastructure. We have bundled our tools and competencies from both an analytical and design perspective so that they can be used in conjunction to make cities future-proof because more resilient and sustainable. We do all this from a future-oriented Digital Twin perspective. Municipalities, contractors and developers face complex challenges to make the environment climate-robust and to minimize the effects of climate change. We help them with specific services. Our water competences cover many aspects of climate adaptation of the urban water system. They include groundwater and foundation research, infiltration and drainage design services an practical solutions for subsiding villages and cities in coastal areas. Our most recent innovation is in urban sewage design.We only get started when we have the facts in order and we have thoroughly analyzed a situation. This enables us to realize reliable urban water infrastructure which is optimally geared to the desired water management. Our extensive toolkit contains a number of complementary tools. The Urban Water Planning tool (UWP)  offers a digital platform which brings together the different dimensions of the climate-related, urban water challenge. It is a powerful tool with which to translate a wide range of data into an optimal design to address a specific set of problems. In addition, we use a number of design-oriented instruments to balance the supply and demand of urban water, both above and below ground. We do this at different scale levels: from a single construction site to an entire city. A key instrument to do this is AGAPE, the Dutch acronym for 'Active Groundwater Level Management'. The combined implementation of these solutions can make cities more resilient and more sustainable.At the same time we observe that the increasingly multi-functional urban land use and a changing climate mean that planning issues are becoming more and more complex. This is also partly due to the…