ARMS (Aquatic Realtime Management System) is a decision support system to aid managers and operators of surface water bodies (reservoirs, lakes, rivers, estuaries, coastal oceans). Its underlying philosophy is to provide an automated software system that requires minimal maintenance to monitor and forecast the conditions of surface water resources, and to notify relevant staff of current conditions on a regular basis.
ARMS is an automated software package that manages historical and real-time water resource data, has a userfriendly visualisation interface, posts information on the internet, provides real-time and forecast numerical modelling capabilities, sends messages via email on the status of water resources, and computes decision support indices to aid in operational management. ARMS provides decision support over a variety of surface water resources (lakes, reservoirs, rivers, estuaries, marine coasts) to aid in the management of water supply, water quality, pollutant spills, flooding, and environmental lows. ARMS is an excellent decision support tool for water authorities, hydropower operators, and environmental regulators. ARMS functions on a variety of computing platforms and operating system environments. [RMSO Flyer]
ARMS was designed to require minimal human interaction and to provide useful information to water resource managers in a real-time manner. ARMS provides the following functionality:
|  Schematic representation of the upper Tiete River, Brazil, which includes several reservoirs and smaller dams along the main channel of the river. |
ARMS provides the following benefits for water resources management:
- Automated real-time monitoring and numerical forecasting of key operating parameters with an email service to alert staff of monitoring failures and incidents
- Automated web postings of the current and forecast conditions of surface waters inclusive of decision support indices for sustainability
- Assessment and control of intervention strategies for reservoir water quality such as destratification devices, withdrawal strategies, and chemical dosing
- Scenario analysis to reduce nutrient, suspended sediment, and pathogens and optimise placement of water supply intakes in reservoirs, lakes, and rivers
- Carbon sequestration estimates in lakes and reservoirs
- Real-time monitoring and forecasting of river water quality below dams, tributaries, sewage treatment plants, and other point and distributed sources
- TDML (Total Daily Maximum Load) monitoring and modelling of catchments and rivers
- Real-time monitoring and forecasting, and rapid assessment of pollutant or toxic spills in surface waters
- Assessment of reservoir withdrawal strategies to meet downstream fish habitat and environmental guidelines
- Investigate options to reduce costs of water treatment
- Increased government and public access to real-time water resources information
- Water balance accounting for water supply purposes
- Assessment of risk management strategies
Schematic representation of the upper Tiete River, Brazil, which includes several reservoirs and smaller dams along the main channel of the river.
CWR is a recognized worldwide leader in numerical modelling of lakes, reservoirs, estuaries, and coastal regions. A suite of five CWR numerical models are available for incorporation into a customized simulation module of ARMS, including:
- ELCOM for transport and mixing in lakes, estuaries, and coasts
- DYRESM for stratification and water balance of lakes
- DYRIM for transport and mixing in rivers and floodplains
- CAEDYM for water quality that can be readily linked to ELCOM, DYRESM, and DYRIM
- LASCAM for catchment discharge, sediments, and nutrients
ARMS can also be configured to run other numerical models. The simulation module of ARMS can be configured to provide:
- Automated real-time modelling to track the up-to-date conditions of surface water resources
- Automated forecast modelling to aid in optimal operation during crisis events
- Scenario task manager to define forecast simulations
- Computation of decision indices to guide operational and strategic management of surface water resources
The Lake Diagnostic System (LDS) and the Controlled Lagrangian Drogue (CLD) instruments can be integrated into ARMS to provide real-time water body monitoring capabilities. The LDS provides information that is critical for accurate numerical modelling of water bodies and consists of:
- Meteorology station
- Thermistor chain
- Other water quality instruments
- Solar-powered data logger
- Various telemetry and mounting options
- Deployment and training
The CLD (available 2007) is an autonomous instrument that drifts within a reservoir or lake under automatic control of vertical positioning. It measures movement of water masses, temperature, and other water quality parameters. ARMS sets the positioning of the CLD based on monitoring data and numerical model forecasting.
Existing and third party instrumentation can also be integrated into ARMS. Likewise ARMS can be integrated with and complement existing SCADA and operations support systems (OSS).
CWR configures ARMS for a clients surface water resources, installs the software, and validates the functioning of the system. In addition, the following optional services are available:
- Installation of instrumentation packages
- Remote monitoring of ARMS operation
- Mirroring of clients ARMS system as an ASP (Application Service Provider) via a web browser
- OLARIS - an ASP service for enhanced visualisation of data and simulations via the web
- Custom hardware and software integration and extensions
- Availability to consult on the physics and water quality of water resources
- CWR model validation for client water bodies
- Field experiments for specific water body issues
Simulation assessing salt water intrusion from the Caribbean Sea into Lake Maracaibo (Venezuela) for different channel dredging options through the straight.
The following organizations can significantly improve the ongoing management of their respective water resources with ARMS:
- Water and Sewage Utilities
- River Basin Management Authorities
- Port and Harbour Authorities
- Hydropower Operators
- Homeland Security
- Environmental Authorities
ARMS has been developed through a series of on-going projects including:
- Sydney Catchment Authority (Australia), to select optimal water depths to extract drinking water and to forecast the effect of floods on reservoir water quality and pathogen risk
- The Singapore Public Utilities Board to monitor and to forecast noxious algal blooms
Simulation of Venice Lagoon to understand flow patterns resulting from tides and wind.
The Centre for Water Research at the University of Western Australia is recognized as the world leader in surface water research. CWR has advised the World Bank and numerous water authorities worldwide. The technology incorporated into this product has been developed over a number of years through scientific and applied research programmes.
