PuwaSTAR - Pumping station warning for heavy rain and flooding in urban areas
Project Data
| Duration: | 01.10.2023 - 30.09.2025 |
| Lead: | Emschergenossenschaft Lippeverband (EGLV) |
| Partners: | Lippeverband, Hydrotec Ingenieurgesellschaft für Wasser und Umwelt mbH, City of Dorsten, Dorsten Fire Department, Gladbeck/Dorsten THW local branch, Gelsenkirchen THW regional office, City of Bottrop and Emschergenossenschaft |
| Project management: | Sebastian Ramsauer, Jorge Leandro |
| Project staff: | Sebastian Ramsauer |
| Project funding: | Federal Ministry of Education and Research |
| Funding program: | User - Innovative: Research for civil security II |
| Further information: | https://www.eglv.de/puwastar/ |
Aim and content of the project
In the Emscher-Lippe region, around 40 percent of the land has subsided as a result of coal mining and must be permanently drained artificially. More than 500 pumping stations - critical infrastructure facilities - are operated there to protect these so-called polder areas from flooding. But what happens if a pumping station fails during a heavy rainfall event?
With this in mind, the Lippeverband (LV) initiated the PuwaSTAR project (pumping station warning for heavy rain and flooding in urban areas). PuwaSTAR is a joint project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with the Water and Environment Research Institute (fwu) at the University of Siegen and „Hydrotec Ingenieurgesellschaft für Wasser und Umwelt mbH“ as additional partners.
The aim of the project is to develop a forecasting system for pumping stations that is able to provide information about possible flooding areas within a few minutes. The aim is to develop a real-time prediction system based on artificial intelligence, which replaces time-consuming 2D hydraulic simulations of flooding in the event of an incident.
The fwu is responsible for developing the artificial intelligence for predicting the flooding areas and water depths. In addition, the pump failure criteria and most probable pump failures are developed in advance, which form the basis of the prediction. The developed forecasting system will be demonstrated using the example of the Dorsten-Hammbach pumping station in the Lippeverband catchment area. The cities of Dorsten and Bottrop, including the fire department and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), are also involved as partners in this project in order to jointly derive the possibilities of improved forecasting for practical disaster prevention and to develop corresponding action plans. An early warning would make it possible to prepare measures in the event of an incident and improve preparedness, thereby reducing the damage that occurs
