The History of FlowWorks
FlowWorks Inc, a Seattle-based company with offices in Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, Canada, is a subsidiary of Kerr Wood Leidal Associates Limited (KWL). KWL is Canadian consulting engineering firm established in 1975 to provide municipal infrastructure and resource management services to government, industry and First Nations clients. KWL’s engineering services include feasibility studies, master planning, computer modeling, data collection and monitoring, preliminary and detailed engineering design, construction services and project management.
The KWL team of over 140 staff continues to grow, expanding the range of specialist skills and depth of resources offered to clients. The firm is committed to using the latest technologies to provide clients with the benefits of advanced computer analysis and data management techniques. Technical resources include the latest computer-aided drafting systems, advanced computer modeling software, and sophisticated survey and data collection technology. More information on KWL can be found at www.kwl.ca.
The FlowWorks data service has its origins in KWL’s flow monitoring and analysis work from the 1980s. KWL built its name on its staff of flow monitoring engineers and other experts in data collection and measurement. As early as 1987, KWL engineers were performing QA/QC and data summary calculations on primitive VisiCalc spreadsheets. By 1995, the KWL engineering team had developed numerous in-house tools using sophisticated spreadsheets and Visual Basic programs to automate large portions of flow monitoring analysis. These valuable tools were being used by clients by 1997, who quickly came to understand the benefits of their predictive capabilities.
In 2005, in response to ever-louder requests from clients, KWL began in earnest to develop its system of spreadsheets and programs into the FlowWorks we know today: an integrated, affordable, real-time web-based data collection system combined with powerful engineering analysis tools. Typical uses include analyses for water and wastewater conveyance and treatment, drainage and creek system monitoring, rainfall and climate stations, and industrial applications. This system, originally called KWL Emerald, won the 2007 Consulting Engineers of British Columbia’s Award of Merit. In June 2009, a new and enhanced version of KWL Emerald was launched under a new name: FlowWorks (www. flowworks.com).
FlowWorks Inc. was established as a separate company in the Spring of 2010. As of this writing, there are around 100 clients using the service to monitoring data from over 500 sites located across North America.
For more information, including a FlowWorks brochure, please call:
Timothy Hicks
FlowWorks Inc.
Seattle, Washington
206.859.6999
