Integrated Water Management

Water, in its natural environment or in its built infrastructure, exists as a system of complex inter-relationships as it flows through its natural sources, suppliers, users, storm drains, waste water treatment plants, and back to another source.  On the other hand, water organizations, regulations, and processes that manage this system of water flows are fragmented.  Even within organizations, silos of departmental roles and information are common.  This mismatch, or the lack of an integrated approach to water management, is a major contributor to the growing costs and challenges of stewardship and regulatory compliance for all aspects of water. 

The practical implications of “management by silos” are significant. Every task related to water, land, or environmental management becomes more expensive, more capital intensive, repetitious, time consuming, open to litigation, or  cumbersome than what it could be with a system that  integrates data, processes, and people. 

The idea of integrating the "value” and “supply" chains of a business has been an accepted practice in other industries since the 1980s. It has helped them achieve phenomenal increases in efficiency and productivity gains in all aspects of their business. Today no business can contemplate an existence without such systems.  

 The EcoLayers Advantage

Water organizations already have access to a large amount of information, available in-house and from public sources, to start integrating water management across departments, jurisdictions, or service territories. However, the water and environment industries do not have the right tools, processes, and “business models” to make its implementation practical and economically attractive. What’s needed are user-friendly applications that can adapt, inter-relate and scale efficiently across many water variables, going beyond the conventional notions of maps, data, and pre-engineered solutions. 

EcoLayers offers a unique solution that embodies these principles. It is a highly sophisticated but cost-effective platform that can integrate the many dimensions of the water "space" within a software environment that supports collaboration, analysis, modeling, and reporting across different scales. Examples: 

• Geographic: Parcel, subdivision, jurisdiction, watershed, region
• Water bodies: Rivers, lakes, aquifers
• Content: data, documents, maps, real-time data, photos, drawings, user input
• Users: Public, agencies, regulators, developers, landscape architects, consultants

Integration at the data and process levels allows customers to exploit the economies of scope (multiple benefits). The platform's scalability allows customers to exploit the benefits of scale. It's modular and flexible design let's customers seek their optimal balance between scale and scope based on their needs and budgets.