The i3D model has been successfully applied on five systems in the past two years, including the City of Novi (population 60,000), Wayne County North Huron Valley Rouge Valley (NHVRV) System (population over 500,000), the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority (population over 100,000), and the City of Owosso (population 18,000). In April of 2006, i3DLab was retained to develop i3d AM models for use in the Clinton-Oakland Sewage Disposal System wet weather billing system. This system in Oakland County, Michigan collects sewage from over 300,000 people and the i3D models will be used to verify and edit wet weather flows for sewer billing. The results of the Novi model were published at WEFTEC in Washington, DC in 2005 and the results of the Wayne County model were published at the Central States Water Environment Association in Chicago, IL, in 2006 and the WEFTEC Collection Systems Conference in 2006.

i3DLab increases confidence and reduces capital expense. The use of the i3D AM model in these system has produced accurately sized improvements for SSOs, provided confidence in the model and recommendations and reduced capital expenditures. In the YCUA system, the results of the i3D modeling reduced peak flow estimates by nearly 50%, resulting in a savings of $10 Million. In the Wayne County NHVRV system, the i3D modeling effort reduced the recommended tunnel size from 10 MG to 6.5 MG, which resulted in a savings of over $20 Million. This was done by eliminating many of the conservative assumptions in "traditional" modeling, yet provided a greater degree of confidence.

The MDEQ has accepted the results of the i3D AM model and the frequency based approach for sizing SSO improvements. They have indicated that they are comfortable that the model accurately represents these systems

In the Fall of 2001, Mr. Czachorski and Dr. Van Pelt presented their initial work on the AM model at the Water Environment Federations's National WEFTEC Conference in Atlanta, GA. Their paper won an award for outstanding poster presentation of the day. This paper represented the culmination of 5 years of effort to develop the i3D model. A follow-up paper was presented at WEFTEC in Chicago, IL in 2002, that outlined a frequency basis design approach.

In the State of Michigan in 2001 - 2002, a sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) advisory committee was formed comprised of regulatory, technical and policy exports with the intention of providing input into the State's SSO policy. Mr. Czachorski and Dr. Van Pelt were invited to present the results of the work to the committee in November of 2001. Their presentation lead to the inclusion of a frequency basis for SSO (not more than once every ten years), in addition to a design event (25-year, 24-hour storm). This enabled the use of a frequency basis for sizing improvements, which can be performed with a continuous simulation using the antecedent moisture model. The resulting SSO policy in the State of Michigan is very aggressive and makes the State of Michigan a leader in the Nation for SSO policy.

i3DLab was founded by:

Robert Czachorski, P.E.

Tobin H. Van Pelt, Ph.D.

Robert S. Czachorski, P.E., is a civil engineering consultant who has worked with sanitary sewers and modeling for over 12 years. He specializes in I/I analysis and antecedent moisture modeling and co-developed the i3D AM model.

Tobin H. Van Pelt, Ph.D., is an aerospace engineer specializing in control systems, digital signal processing and system identification. He is currently employed by a large defense contractor and co-developed the i3D AM model.

Mr. Czachorski and Dr. Van Pelt began working together on the development of the antecedent moisture model in 1996 after the completion of the Wayne County - Downriver system flow monitoring. The significant response of the system to antecedent moisture motivated them to develop an accurate model for wet weather flows in separate sanitary sewer systems. The overlap of their two disciplines, civil engineering and aerospace control systems, has produced a unique insight into the I/I phenomenon. The unique variation in their backgrounds results in approaches that are not commonly found in civil engineering, which has lead to many innovations.