Identification of Emergency Water Sources for Greensboro, North Carolina

Severn Trent Services was selected to conduct a study involving analysis of the connections between Greensboro's water system and the neighboring systems of Winston-Salem, High Point and Burlington, North Carolina. Greensboro was seeking emergency supplies to offset the effects of drought, increasing demand, and delays in constructing new sources. The project's goal was to create a hydraulic modeling tool that produced accurate results for negotiations and decision-making. This included exploring various alternatives, identifying practical ways of connecting the distribution systems, quantifying the flow available from each alternative, and estimating the costs involved. The project involved the technical challenge of combining large models of separate distribution systems. The combined model covered most of three counties and had a total average daily demand of over 100 mgd with seven water plants, over 25 tanks and 8,000 pipes. The combined systems supply over 600,000 people. The project identified various factors that limited how much water each neighboring system could supply. These limitations included production capacity, operations and maintenance plans, pump capacity, pressure constraints, and water quality considerations.