Dominion Water & Sanitation District - Water Systems Operations Model

Dominion Water and Sanitation District (DWSD) is a retail water sanitation district established in 2015 in northwest Douglas County. The DWSD service area includes a major planned development named Sterling Ranch. By pairing water supply planning and modeling to evaluate water supply options, operations, costs, and characterize risk, LRE has developed effective and innovative planning solutions and a robust water supply portfolio that reduces risk and provides a reliable firm supply for the planned community under various economic and environmental conditions.

 

Dominion’s Water Operations Model (WOM) is a demand based water allocation model developed in Microsoft Excel. The model was designed with the flexibility to use monthly and annual projected water demands at various demand levels with and without outdoor water conservation. The model also includes the flexibility to vary monthly delivery and demand schedules and compare the results of multiple model runs side-by-side both tabularly and graphically. The insights gained from the allocation of water to meet demands characterizes system operations and infrastructure requirements. The WOM was constructed based upon Dominion’s primary renewable supply WISE and represents Wet/Average/Dry 10-year blocks of deliveries specified in the WISE Water Delivery Agreement. The understanding and characterization of WISE deliveries and the supporting agreements is crucial in the successful operation of a conjunctive use system.

 

The WOM has been used successfully to support Douglas County submittals, WISE management, understanding the timing of infrastructure and required funding, as well as integration with regional projects and partners.