On the 4th March 2020, Jenny travelled to Birmingham to represent Caley Water at the Innovyze UK & European Conference 2020. The Innovyze Conference is a great opportunity to discuss new ideas, learn about ongoing updates to modelling processes, and understand the importance of modelling in terms of current and future flood risk.
The conference attracts a range of industry experts from a range of areas, including: utilities companies, engineering consultancies and other companies such as Network Rail. The day included talks on a range of Sewer, Storm and Flood Modelling topics; given the recent storm events and flooding across the UK, discussions on the interactions between different flooding sources were particularly relevant. The event was kicked off by Andrew Walker of Innovyze, who introduced Craig Woolhouse from the Environment Agency to talk about the strategic direction of flood risk management in the context of climate change.
The next presentation topics delved deeper into the technical side of flood risk management, including integrated catchment modelling and flood mitigation studies using ICM, as well as a fascinating demonstration on using the ICM water quality module to assess flooding from multiple sources, presented by Luke Johnson. There were also some thought provoking talks on the use of machine learning and AI to improve the efficiency of modelling tasks.
The conference was a great opportunity to network with other wastewater industry professionals, gain expert knowledge and learn about the exciting potential and future direction of wastewater modelling.
