Environmental Research & Analysis Intern

Oldcastle Infrastructure launches smartcapture(tm) as America's first fully integrated smart stormwater storage system. A new collaboration with Opti combines precast storage with embedded adaptive control to improve resilience and deliver more effective stormwater performance. Oldcastle Infrastructure today announced that it signed an agreement with Opti to launch SmartCapture, America's first fully integrated smart stormwater storage system. By combining precast concrete storage with embedded continuous monitoring and adaptive control (CMAC), SmartCapture is designed to help municipalities, engineers and developers future-proof stormwater systems by creating additional effective storage capacity, improving flood and water quality performance, and adapting infrastructure to more volatile weather conditions. Integrating Opti's cloud-based continuous monitoring and adaptive control technology directly into Oldcastle Infrastructure's precast concrete stormwater storage modules, SmartCapture uses both climate and in-system water level sensing to remotely optimize detention, retention and reuse in real time. The system proactively manages stormwater capture, storage and release based on current and forecast conditions without requiring separate external control infrastructure. By dynamically adapting to forecast conditions and in-system storage levels, SmartCapture can help municipalities, engineers and developers mitigate flooding, improve water quality, support groundwater recharge and enable stormwater reuse within a single system. That ability to turn stormwater into a managed resource can help communities build resilience, address water scarcity and improve long-term infrastructure performance as weather patterns become more volatile. As the only packaged stormwater detention and retention solution with fully integrated internal CMAC and both climate and level monitoring, SmartCapture gives civil engineers and site owners a way to reduce design complexity, lower capital costs and make better use of constrained sites. By eliminating the need for separate adaptive control infrastructure, the system can also simplify construction, reduce installation scope and help accelerate project schedules. "SmartCapture brings together stormwater storage and adaptive control in a way the market has not seen before," said Matika Made, president of water quality at Oldcastle Infrastructure. "For engineers, municipalities and developers under pressure to do more with tighter sites, tighter budgets and more extreme weather, this solution offers a practical way to improve performance, simplify construction and build more resilient stormwater systems." Oldcastle Infrastructure and Opti recently implemented the technology on a flood mitigation project in Statesboro, Ga., transforming a passive retention system into an active stormwater management asset. The system monitors weather forecast data, water levels and downstream conditions, and when a major storm events forecast it automatically lowers water levels in Lake Sal by up to two feet to create an additional 19.5 acre-feet of storage - over ten times what would have been possible using conventional techniques - and then adapts to storm conditions in real time, proactively adjusting storage levels to mitigate flood risk. In another recent project, SmartCapture eliminated the need for an entire additional system, avoiding associated unit, excavation and installation costs and removing approximately two weeks of construction time from the critical path. The project delivered a net capital cost saving of between $315,000 and $425,000 while improving effective storage performance through real-time control. SmartCapture also gives municipalities and owners better visibility into system performance after installation. Easily integrated into SCADA systems, the platform provides real-time monitoring and reporting to support regulatory compliance, reduce asset management burden and help agencies make more confident, data-driven stormwater infrastructure decisions. "By embedding adaptive control directly into the storage system, SmartCapture makes advanced stormwater management more accessible and easier to implement at scale," said Viktor Hlas, president at Opti. "Together with Oldcastle Infrastructure, we're helping customers move beyond static designs to infrastructure that can respond in real time to changing conditions and deliver stronger long-term outcomes. It's going to become the standard, and people are going to look back and wonder why they ever did it any other way."

The City of Ormond Beach, Florida partnered with Opti to maximize flood storage in its five interconnected Central Park Lakes.