OpenFlows WaterGEMS CONNECT Edition Update 4

New Controls Editor
The Controls Editor has been updated in WaterGEMS and WaterCAD, with a more streamlined and user-friendly interface. Controls are now be edited and created in a table format. All control types are still available, like simple and logical controls, as well control sets.


The Controls Editor is available by going to Home > Controls or Component > Controls. The older method for managing controls is still available here as well. (but may be removed in a future update)


A short video showcasing the benefits of this new enhancement can be found here:


Assign DMAs based on Target number of Customer Meters
It is now possible to assign District Metering Areas based on the target number of customer meters. After selecting the Compute button in the District Metering Area tool, a dialog is generated to select the criteria type used to generate the DMAs. In addition to the existing options (Target Number of Nodes and Target Pipe Length), you can also select Target Number of Customer Meters. The workflow will be the same as other criteria types.


Time Step Export Options added to Export to Excel feature
An option has been added to the Export to Excel feature enabling the user to filter the time steps that are exported to Excel


This feature will be useful to limit the number of rows exported out to Excel and decrease the time needed to export the data.
Note: if you exceed the limit of the number of rows for Excel, select CSV for the "Format".
EPANET 2.2 Support
WaterGEMS and WaterCAD now support the EPANET 2.2 engine (numerical solver). Along with this, additional 2.2-specific convergence options have been included with this release. A model using the "EPANET 2.2" engine should match the results in EPANET 2.2, while the "WaterGEMS 2.2" engine is based on the EPANET 2.2 engine but with additional improvements.
Tank overflow support
Support for tank overflows have been included in this release. This feature will be available if you are using the WaterGEMS 2.2.0, WaterGEMS 2.00.12, WaterGEMS 2.00.10, or EPANET 2.2.0 engines in the Calculation Options.
To use this feature, open the tank Properties grid and set the property field “Allow tank overflow?” to True. With this setting, the tank can overflow during the simulation.


If “Allow tank overflow?” is set to True and the tank is full, you will see a user notification that the tank is overflowing. In addition, if “Allow tank overflow?” is set to True, the built-in tank altitude valve is not used. This means that there will continue to be flow to the tank if the tank is full.
New convergence options
The EPANET 2.2 based engine introduces two new calculation options for convergence.
- Flow Change Limit
- Headloss Error Limit
These values are used to make convergence stricter in either terms of flow or headloss. In other words, a limit is set for the largest flow or headloss change in a link, before convergence can be deemed to have occurred.
Continue if Unbalanced calculation options
With the “Continue if Unbalanced?” calculation option, if the run exceeds the maximum number of trials without reaching convergence, WaterGEMS and WaterCAD will continue to try additional trials up to the value entered for the Extra Iterations feature. To use this feature, set “Continue if Unbalanced?” to True. If this is set to False, no additional time steps will compute beyond the time step that is unbalanced and the analysis will stop.


Bulk Archive feature for Change Tracking
A new bulk archive feature is available for change tracking. With this, you will be able to archive a large number of items from the Change Tracking database. This will remove the items from the model database file and store the archived changes in an external database file. You can access this by going to the Review tab. Note that this does not replace the Archive feature in the Change Tracking manager.


Compatible Operating Systems and Platforms
Compatible Operating Systems
- Windows 11 (32-bit or 64-bit
- Windows 10 (32-bit or 64-bit)
- Windows 8 (32-bit or 64-bit)
- Windows Server 2019 and 2022
Supported Platforms:
- Standalone (no CAD or GIS software required)
- MicroStation CONNECT Edition
- AutoCAD 2023 and 2022
- ArcMap 10.8 and earlier (WaterGEMS only)
- ArcGIS Pro 2.8 and 2.9 (WaterGEMS only)
Model Compatibility
Older model files can be opened in the latest version without issue.
Stability enhancements and fixes to reported issues
As with all new versions, this release of WaterGEMS and WaterCAD includes fixes to various user-reported issues from the previous release, providing an overall more stable experience.