A recently released upgrade of a water distribution modeler now includes security capabilities for combating contamination of water supplies, along with more usual design and operations analysis tools.

The new version of WaterCAD 5.0, from Haestad Methods, Waterbury, Conn., has features to identify the appropriate valves to close to isolate contamination, develop efficient flushing strategies and identify customers who might be impacted.

Other enhancements include inclusion of a "Darwin Calibrator" feature that improves realistic modeling by applying an evolutionary genetic algorithm technique for model calibration. It tests and selects its way through millions of solutions to accurately simulate systems by calibrating pipe roughness, demands and pipe and valve status simultaneously. The model can be used to weigh trade-offs between costs of changes and efficiency gains. For more information see www.haestad.com/WaterCAD.