Hydraulic Modeling: What Do You Mean Our Interceptors Are Too Small?

The City and County of Broomfield (City) has grown in population in the last 10 years. As with many of the medium-sized utilities in the Denver metro area, the City’s population growth is threatening to outgrow its infrastructure’s capacities. To optimize the use of the existing infrastructure, it is essential to understand hydraulic capacities throughout the entire collection system. As a result of this, the City saw the need to develop a sanitary sewer collection system model as a planning tool for future system expansion and to provide an understanding of current capacity limitations and bottlenecks. This report will use the City as a case study for the numerous benefits hydraulic modeling can provide to a growing utility. As more utilities are faced with hydraulic pinch points in their growing systems, it is more imperative than ever to understand how to best manage risk in areas of restricted capacity and to identify underutilized existing infrastructure that can convey future buildout flows.