Case Study: City of Philadelphia optimizes stormwater management and reduces pollution with Microsoft Azure

Philadelphia uses smart technology to manage stormwater runoff and reduce pollution

The City of Philadelphia’s Water Department faced the ongoing challenge of managing stormwater in a combined sewer system that can overflow during heavy rain, sending untreated wastewater into local waterways. Under its Green City, Clean Waters program the city sought source-based, scalable solutions to reduce runoff from streets and commercial properties and to improve monitoring and control of stormwater infrastructure.

Working with partner Opti, PWD piloted OptiNimbus — a cloud-based continuous monitoring and adaptive control (CMAC) solution running on Microsoft Azure — on an 8-acre commercial site, adding sensors, an actuated valve, and forecast-driven automated controls. In the first 212 days the system retained 98.8% of runoff during about 20 inches of rain, keeping roughly 2.7 million gallons out of the combined sewer, while providing real-time and long-term data to optimize future projects and expand the approach citywide.

City of Philadelphia

Philip Pickering

Engineering Supervisor