SimWater — Calgary Water System Simulator
Solo Design and Development by Scott Cressman
Explore SimWater simwater.ca
SimWater is a public information and simulation platform I developed to help Calgarians understand how their city's drinking water system works—and what happens when critical infrastructure is disrupted.
The project emerged from Calgary's South Bearspaw feeder main replacement, when the city's water supply capacity was significantly constrained and water conservation became an essential part of maintaining system reliability.
SimWater combines publicly available river-flow measurements, reservoir information, municipal water-demand data, and simplified mathematical models to illustrate how water moves through Calgary's supply system.
The goal is to transform a complicated infrastructure problem into an understandable visual experience, helping residents see the relationship between water supply, consumption, storage, conservation, and risk.
What's inside
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Calgary water system overview: An illustrated explanation of the Bow River, Elbow River, Bearspaw and Glenmore reservoirs, water treatment plants, and major feeder mains.
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Water supply dashboard: Key measurements showing reservoir storage, river inflows, water consumption, and the balance between available supply and demand.
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Public hydrological data: Information drawn from Alberta's river-monitoring network and published City of Calgary operational reports.
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Daily water consumption tracking: Charts showing how municipal water demand changes over time and whether consumption is approaching critical thresholds.
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Reservoir visualization: A graphical representation of the Glenmore Reservoir's storage conditions and how water levels respond to changing demand and inflow.
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Per-person water conservation: Translate citywide demand into understandable individual consumption and savings, helping residents see how collective behaviour affects the larger system.
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Infrastructure disruption modelling: Examine how changes in water treatment capacity, feeder main availability, or river inflow can affect overall system performance.
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Scenario simulation: Explore hypothetical conditions involving reduced supply, drought, infrastructure outages, and different levels of water conservation.
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Historical trends and comparisons: Review recorded demand and supply information to understand the relationship between changing conditions and system capacity.
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Responsive public interface: A visual dashboard designed to communicate complex information across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
Who this app is for
SimWater is for Calgary residents who want a clearer understanding of the infrastructure that supplies their drinking water.
It is also intended for educators, students, community organizations, journalists, and anyone interested in municipal infrastructure, sustainability, resource management, and public communication.
The platform is designed to make technical concepts accessible without requiring expertise in civil engineering, hydrology, or municipal water management.
Why this matters
Most of us turn on a tap without thinking about the extraordinary infrastructure required to deliver clean water.
During a major supply disruption, that invisible system suddenly becomes part of everyone's daily life.
Yet public communications often rely on individual statistics—reservoir levels, litres consumed, restrictions imposed—without showing how those measurements relate to one another.
SimWater connects those pieces.
It illustrates how river inflow, treatment capacity, reservoir storage, and daily consumption interact. More importantly, it helps people understand why conservation matters and how millions of small decisions can collectively influence a city's water supply.
The project demonstrates how information design can turn a complicated public infrastructure issue into something people can explore and understand for themselves.
About the designer developer
SimWater is independently designed and developed by Scott Cressman, a communication designer, educator, and digital product strategist.
The project brings together systems thinking, data visualization, interaction design, and scenario-based modelling.
It is also an experiment in how independent designers can use emerging development technologies and open government data to respond quickly to real community needs—creating useful public information tools without the conventional resources required for large software development projects.
SimWater is a citizen-led educational project. Its simulations are illustrative, not official engineering forecasts, and it is not affiliated with the City of Calgary.
Making the invisible visible
SimWater began with a simple question: Could a better understanding of Calgary's water system help people make better decisions about water conservation?
By connecting measurements, infrastructure, and human behaviour in one visual environment, the project attempts to make the city's water system less abstract—and the value of conservation more tangible.
Explore SimWater
An independent public information and water simulation project developed for Calgary.