German environmental software firm KISTERS and global weather forecasting company MeteoGroup announced on 27 March the addition of water environments expert DHI Group as a third partner to the partnership producing the HydroMaster product, which supports firms’ in their water management activity.
The new partner adds hydrologic intelligence, expertise and data to the product, as well as enhancing its international sales and marketing.
HydroMaster supports customers in limiting the impact of rain events on operations, assets and infrastructures. The professional cloud service for weather information and forecasts helps local authorities, cities and municipalities, infrastructure owners and utility companies to be better informed and prepared about flood events.
As a global research and engineering company, developing and implementing solutions that meet real-life challenges in water environments worldwide, DHI possesses extensive hydrological and hydraulic modelling skills and tools. MeteoGroup and KISTERS believe that the addition of DHI Models and DHI Data will greatly improve HydroMaster.
Cloud service manages precipitation risks
Last year, KISTERS and MeteoGroup unveiled HydroMaster, the new cloud service for weather information, forecasts and warnings. This product was developed in response to extreme precipitation events that are increasing in frequency and intensity due to increased urbanisation, population growth and climate change.
With HydroMaster’s live web service, customers can view, analyse and archive historical, current and upcoming precipitation events. HydroMaster is described as “the perfect tool for effectively managing precipitation-related risks and ensuring preventive actions are taken to minimise the impact on infrastructure and assets.”
Case study: East Sussex County
East Sussex County Council’s Flood Risk Management Team started using HydroMaster in 2017 following a trial of HydroMaster and a similar product over the summer of that year. The team was looking for a service which fulfilled two very distinct criteria: be a reliable source of rainfall data as well as a reliable weather alert service. Nick Claxton, Team Manager Flood Risk Management at East Sussex County says, “HydroMaster has a remarkably easy user interface and offers a high-quality weather forecasting service. We are at an early stage and are refining the warning settings to reflect particular local conditions and embed it within service delivery.”
“HydroMaster is ideal for water utility and supply companies in need of advanced precipitation warnings,” said Klaus Kisters, CEO at KISTERS. “For example, heavy or prolonged periods of rain or extreme cloud bursts can be predicted before the event. This allows mitigation of serious problems such as overflows and the wash-off of pollutants, enabling specific treatment of the water before supplying it to clients.”
“It is really useful for you to draw on your area of interest and define your own thresholds in HydroMaster. The web portal then shows you individual forecasts, visualisation and alarm status of your specific areas of interest – your own assets, catchments, etc.”
“With HydroMaster, stakeholders are always prepared. The web service not only shows what is coming, but also when it is coming and the expected impact on operations”, says Donat Rétif, CEO at MeteoGroup.
Welcoming the partnership, DHI Group’s CEO Antoine Labrosse shares, “Hydromaster is a great platform to democratise DHI’s advanced hydrological modelling and flood forecasting services. The combination of world leading meteorology, IT, as well as hydraulic expertise and technology makes for a great product – one that will undoubtedly empower people, businesses and authorities to better prepare and react to flash flood events.”
