BE Magazine - Volume 4, Issue 3 - (Page 47)

GEOSPATIAL Country). It was apparent from the outset that the entire system would need to be created from scratch. Comal County has only two water providers, both of which are very limited in their range due to insufﬁcient water supply sources in the area. As a result, development constructed within the last 10 years is generally situated in close proximity to the existing distribution system, only adding infrastructure within the bounds of their projects. Vintage Oaks is not only larger than nearly every prior development, but more isolated as well. In fact, the development lies more than ﬁve miles from the closest available potable water supply. This water system would be the ﬁrst to fall within the Highway 46 corridor. All that existed during the initial stages of the project was a proposed lot layout and a chunk of undeveloped land. There was no infrastructure beyond a few isolated residential wells. This stands in sharp contrast with the ﬁnal design, which consists of a network of 280,000 linear feet of pipe, over 400 isolation valves, multiple PRVs that create an entirely new system of pressure zones, elevated storage tanks, well sites, booster pumps, pressurized tanks, 205 ﬁre hydrants, and water treatment facilities. To transform raw, isolated land into an efﬁcient, cost-effective, and satisfactory place to build a home, myriad challenges would need to be overcome. The nine different units are being constructed over a seven-year period. Therefore, the infrastructure will be built in nine parallel stages. Essentially, this meant that M&S Engineering needed to design not one but nine separate water systems, each taking into account the sources and demand that would be present at each stage. Each of these needed to be efﬁcient not only as individual systems, but also as a completed What sources should—or could—produce the required service volumes of water? It goes without saying that on a 3,200-acre property, there are a number of alternative schemes to be considered. Deciding which infrastructure scheme worked best, while taking into account economics, feasibility, efﬁciency, and topography, was no easy matter. In addition, the number of pressure zones had to be determined. With a wide range of elevations spread over multiple hilltops with PROJECT OVERVIEW Vintage Oaks at the Vineyard Organization M&S Engineering BE Awards Category Geospatial Water Resource Management Project Objective Engineer 3,200-acre, 2,200-home community in the heart of the Texas Hill Country deep valleys in between, the site was anything but uniform in its topography. A major question was whether many pressure zones should be used or should the number be limited by employing parallel pipes at different pressures. Strategic advantage v M&S Engineering engineered every aspect of the project, from the master plan to the roadways, drainage, and all major utilities whole. Also, more than ﬁve miles of off-site pipe were called for, but sizing was a question. The needs of the system called for up to ﬁve developed well sites, a 300,000 gallon elevated storage tank, and an off-site water line. This gave rise to the following two additional challenges. To address these challenges, M&S Engineering employed a wide variety of engineering design and analysis products, including WaterCAD V8 XM. The software turned what might have been a nearly insurmountable challenge into a manageable and proﬁtable project. According to M&S Engineering project manager Daniel Konstanski, the project relied exclusively on WaterCAD. Originally, M&S Engineering was considering a variety of different products but found that WaterCAD stood out from the competition. The degree to which it streamlined the engineering and design process, Konstanski said, “exceeded our wildest expectations.” He continued, “When we compared the number of features that WaterCAD came with and the price we could get it for, there simply was no comparison to anything else on the market; the value of the product was far superior.” Konstanski said the ﬁrm chose Bentley products because it believed that they were the best. WaterCAD was a program powerful enough to handle the intense demands of the industry, but possessed a logical and user-friendly interface. He found that the Bentley software’s features and ease of operation stood in stark contrast to the competition’s, where he found that having one always meant the loss of the other. The design directive was to transport water to a 2,200-newhome site, ﬁve miles from the nearest existing water source. According to M&S Engineering, instructions were open-ended at Volume 4, Issue 3 | BE MAGAZINE 47

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of BE Magazine - Volume 4, Issue 3

Contents Rising to the Challenge News BE Newsletter Highlights More ITS Sightings Racing Concrete Canoes Lights, Camera, Action! Making the Cut People’s Choice Awards 2007 Executive Keynotes Building Clear Vision of a Dream Concrete Results Reaching New Heights Building News From Bentley Golden KIWI Awards 2007 Civil A Coordination of National Highway Proportions Training Troops Beautifying Highways, One Sign at a Time Civil News From Bentley Geospatial Facility Facelift Planning for Uncertainty Geospatial News From Bentley MicroStation at the Heart of LiDAR Surveying Solutions Plant Making the Grade Data Deja Vu Data Clouds Provide Clear Visual of Underground Saving Precious-Metal Mining Time Plant News From Bentley Advertisers Index Special/Academic The Art of Visualization Training Is Key To Delivering State-of-the-Art Solutions Bridging the Information/Infrastructure Gap

BE Magazine - Volume 4, Issue 3

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