Optimatics Awards

Optimatics, Ericsson and SA Water Win 2011 WIA Climate Ready Award

SA Water, South Australia’s government-owned water utility, recognised that a real-time decision support tool would be valuable in assisting operators to achieve efficient and effective operation of the state’s bulk water supply system. Through this project, SA Water is minimizing the economic cost and environmental impact associated with pumping large quantities of water over long distances. The resulting tool provides network operators with a flexible system to operate the bulk water network and assist in meeting potential demands at urban and regional population centres. A unique feature of the system is its ability to balance short-term operational efficiency with long-term water security requirements, especially important for drought-prone South Australia.

The optimization software (Optimizer WRT) was developed by Optimatics specifically for real-time operation of bulk water supply systems. The software is accessed by SA Water operators through a custom-designed graphical user interface created by Ericsson and integrated with SA Water’s SCADA system.

The Water Industry Alliance Climate Ready Award recognises excellence and innovation in water and energy efficiency amongst Water Industry Alliance members.

Engineers Australia – Commendation 2010

The 2010 South Australian Engineering Excellence Awards, hosted on 10 September 2010 by South Australia’s Engineers Australia President, Doug Gillott, brought together over 350 guests with the Governor of South Australia, His Excellency Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce, to celebrate a year of achievements of South Australia’s professional engineering innovators.

South Australian Water Corporation, Optimatics, United Water International Pty Ltd and University of Adelaide received a Commendation for Research, Development and Information for delivering a Secure Water Supply to the Community: Combined Optimisation and Multi- Criteria Analysis Approach. 

IWA Project Innovation Award 2010

This Innovation Award was for a major project to determine how best to integrate water from Adelaide's new A$1.83 billion desalination plant and improve interconnectivity within the metropolitan Water Supply Network. The project was selected as the 2010 Honour Awardee in the Planning Projects category of the International Water Association (IWA) Project Innovation Awards.

South Australian WaterCorporation (SA Water), a South Australian government-owned water utility, recognised in 2009 that an alternative approach was needed to arrive at the best solution to enable efficient and effective use of the water supplied by the desalination plant for the Adelaide community. Optimatics, United Water and the University of Adelaide, in conjunction with SA Water, applied cutting-edge optimisation technology and multicriteria analysis (MCA) in their work towards the preferred feasible engineering solution.

The IWA Project Innovation Awards recognise excellence and innovation in water engineering projects throughout the world. Entries are assessed on the application of new or existing technology; future value to the engineering profession; and complexity of the problem or situation addressed.

The award was received in Singapore on behalf of the project team by Ms Alana Duncker, Operations Manager for Optimatics. Commenting on receipt of the award, Mr John Ringham, Chief Operating Officer of SA Water, said, “We understand this to be the first application of this process. The opportunity for the use of this approach for other water utilities throughout the world to optimize the interconnection of new water sources into existing water supply networks is enormous.” 

Water New Zealand - Best Presentation Award 2010

Optimatics was judged recipient of the best presentation in the Modeling stream at the 2010 Water New Zealand conference. The paper, titled "Cost Optimal Wastewater System Improvements – 2009/2010 North Shore City Wastewater Optimization Project” was written by Joel Wilson from Optimatics and Nick Brown from North Shore City Council, NZ and was presented by Joel Wilson at the 2010 annual conference.  The presentation included a powerful animation of an optimization run for the case study project and showcased innovative technology developments used to overcome challenging aspects of the project.

Water New Zealand - Best Paper Award 2009

Optimatics was judged recipient of the best paper in the Modeling stream as published in the Journal Water New Zealand during the year, 2009. The paper, titled "Options Analysis Methods for Collection Systems" was based on a review of available techniques for evaluating wastewater collection system improvement alternatives and included a case study of the successful application of genetic algorithm optimization to the Turkey Creek Sewershed Master Plan project completed with Johnson County Wastewater.  The paper was written by Joel Wilson from Optimatics and Colin Meadowcroft from the North Shore City Council, NZ.

Water Industry Alliance Innovation Award 2007

The 2007 Water Industry Alliance Innovation Annual Award was presented to Optimatics for the integration between Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to develop an optimization program for wastewater networks, reducing computer run time to undertake optimization by up to a factor of 100. 

"The use of artificial neural networks to develop an optimization program for sewerage networks is truly innovative."
Judges comments

Association of Consulting Engineers Australia Award of Excellence 2006

Optimatics was awarded the prestigious 2006 Australian Consulting Engineers Association (ACEA) Award of Excellence for Small Firms. The award recognizes Australia's world class engineering activities. 

"The project represents a unique application of state-of-the-art powerful and efficient genetic algorithm optimization techniques without which the alternative of trial and error would have been time consuming and expensive"
- Judges' comments

Association of Consulting Engineers Australia Certificate of Recognition 2006

Optimatics was awarded a Certificate of Recognition in the overall Water Project Category for its system design and optimization of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. This project involved optimization of the conversion of inefficient open irrigation channels to a closed pipe irrigation system along the Murrumbidgee River in southern New South Wales.

Australian Water Association Research and Development Award 2006

The 2006 Australian Water Association South Australian Division Research and Development Award was presented to Optimatics for its work in developing OptiFlush, a software tool for pipe flushing that automates and optimizes the most efficient process to flush water supply systems to improve water quality outcomes.

American Water Works Association - Best Paper Award 2005

Optimatics was judged recipient of the best paper in the Distribution and Plant Operations division as published in the Journal AWWA during the year, 2005. The paper, titled "Cost Savings and Enhanced Reliability for Main Rehabilitation and Replacement" was based on the successful use of genetic algorithm optimization on the Otay project completed with City of San Diego. The paper was written by Jeffery Frey, Lee Kolokas and Professor Angus Simpson from Optimatics and Leonard Wilson and Feryal Moshavegh from the City of San Diego.

Water Industry Alliance Innovation Award 2005

Optimatics was awarded the Water Industry Alliance Annual Award for Innovation in 2005. The Award was for the application of a distributed Genetic Algorithm (GA) computing capability to solve complex water system optimization problems.

Water Industry Alliance Export Development Award 2004

The Water Industry Alliance Export Development Annual Award in 2004 was presented to Optimatics for successfully exporting Genetic Algorithm (GA) optimization to the water industry on a global scale.

Australian Water Association Commendation 2000

Optimatics was awarded a commendation from the Australian Water Association, formerly the Australian Water & Wastewater Association, in the category of Drinking Water, Water Technology and Policy for the successful optimization of the water distribution system for the City of Grand Prairie, Texas.

Australian Water & Wastewater Association High Commendation 1996

The Australian Water & Wastewater Association presented the founders of Optimatics with a High Commendation award for the development and application of the Genetic Algorithm (GA) technique to pipe network optimization. Optimatics, a global leader in optimization solutions, has completed over 200 projects for water authorities in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.