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Topic Contents

1. Document Information

2. What is the difference between WaterCAD and WaterGEMS?

3. How can I find my registration / license information and version / build number?  

4. Where do I go to change the analysis type, timestep, duration, etc?

5. How can I reset or change the numbering of the element labels?  

6. When I lay out a pipe, it always initially comes in as 6". Can I change the default values of the properties of new elements? 

7. My annotation/symbols are huge or take up the entire drawing area, as one big blob. What's going on? 

8. What is the difference between the junction and hydrant elements? 

9. How do I global edit demands? 

10. Which demands are used for a steady state simulation?  

11. How can I filter a FlexTable based on a selection set (to only show elements in that set)?

12. Why do I sometimes see a negative flow through a pipe?  

13. How can I remove/disable pipe flow arrows? 

14. Why do I keep getting prompted to compact the database when I open my model? What does this mean? 

15. Why do I see residual mouse trails (visual artifacts) left behind when moving things in the drawing pane?  

16. My properties window doesn't appear when I try to open it. Where did it go? 

17. How can I open a model created in an older version (7.0 and below) and retain its presentation settings?

18. A user with an older version is not able to open a project I sent them. Can a model be 'saved down' to an earlier version? 

19. Can I restore a backup of my projects? 

20.

21. Why are there so many extra element types, such as surge tank, rupture disk, Periodic head-flow?

22. What does it mean when an element is "hydraulically disconnected"? 

23. What is the meaning of the notification "Valve cannot deliver flow", with regards to a Flow Control Valve (FCV)? 

24. What does the notification "pump cannot deliver desired head" mean? 

25. What does it mean when you encounter the message "network unbalanced"? 

26. How can I find out what version a model was created in? 

27. How do I import a CAD drawing? (DXF, DWG, DGN) 

28. How can I export my model to shapefiles? 

 29. When importing a DXF as a background, it does not show up in the model, even when pressing zoom extents. 

30. When using the AutoCAD platform, should I use layers to change pipe color/thickness?

31. When printing the model plan view, why do I see extra blank/white space? 

32. My controls aren't being followed. What's going on?

33. What does the "evaluate as simple control" checkbox mean? What is the difference between simple and logical controls? 

34. How can I import demand information from a spreadsheet? 

35. When importing a submodel, why do my new elements turn inactive and old elements change their attributes to the defaults in the new scenarios? 

36. What is criticality? What is the purpose of the "criticality" and "outage segment" subsections? 

37. Why do I get a user notification about negative pressure at a pump?

38. When laying out new elements in WaterCAD/GEMS for AutoCAD, why do elements automatically go to certain layers instead of going to the current layer?

39. Why are there 2 entries for the same alternative in the dropdown menu in the properties of a scenario? One with an "i" and one without it.

40. What is the asterisk column in the Alternative Editor Dialog Box used for?

41. See Also

42. External Links

43. Comments or Corrections?

  

Document Information

Document Type: FAQ 

Product(s): Bentley WaterGEMS, Bentley WaterCAD

Version(s): V8 XM, V8i 

Original Author: Jesse Dringoli, Bentley Technical Support Group

What is the difference between WaterCAD and WaterGEMS?

WaterGEMS allows you work inside of ArcGIS and includes Darwin Calibrator, Darwin Designer and Skelebrator. WaterCAD cannot be integrated with
ArcGIS and the Calibrator, Designer and Skelebrator features are optional, at an extra cost. Beyond this, equal versions (ie WaterCAD 08.11.00.30 and
WaterGEMS 08.11.00.30) are identical.
 

How can I find my registration / license information and version / build

number?  

Inside the program, this is found under Help > About WaterGEMS (or Help > About WaterCAD) 

Where do I go to change the analysis type, timestep, duration, etc?

In previous versions (7.0 and below), this was done in the "GO" window. In V8, this is done in the calculation options.

o access the calculation options, click the Analysis menu and choose "calculation options". Then, double click your calculation option set to see the
properties.

 To choose the analysis type, such as steady state, EPS, water age, select the appropriate choice for the "analysis type" field. For steady state and
EPS, select "hydraulics only" and then select the appropriate choice for the "time analysis type". Once EPS, Age, Trace or constituent is selected, you
can then choose the duration, timestep, etc.

After you configure the calcuation options, make sure your calculation option set is selected for the appropriate scenario. To do this, go to Analysis >
Scenarios, double click the scenario in question and make sure the correct calculation option set is seleced. Multiple scenarios can use/reference the
same calculation option set and multiple calculation option sets can be created. For example, you can duplicate an EPS calculation option set in the
calculation options manager, select a different duration and use that in a child scenario to analyze a longer period, while keeping the old scenario
intact.

How can I reset or change the numbering of the element labels?  

 Go to Tools > Options > Labeling. For the element type in question, you can change the number of the label of the next element that will be layed out.
You can also change the prefix, digits, suffix and increment. Click the "Reset" button to reset the "next" number based on how many of that element
exist in the model.

When I lay out a pipe, it always initially comes in as 6". Can I change
the default values of the properties of new elements? 

Yes, go to View > Prototypes. Create a new prototype, double click it and change the properties to what you desire. The prototype marked as current
will designate the properties of newly laid out elements. 

 
My annotation/symbols are huge or take up the entire drawing area,
as one big blob. What's going on? 

Your drawing style may be set to GIS. GIS drawing style is zoom independent, so the annotations/symbol sizes will stay the same size no matter how
far in or out you zoom. To change to CAD drawing style (scaled), click the drawing style button at the top of the Element Symbology manager (Tools >
Element Symbology) and choose "CAD". You can also adjust the text and symbol sizes under Tools > Options > Drawing. 

What is the difference between the junction and hydrant elements? 

The hydrant element is the same as the junction; you can enter the elevation and demand and connect pipes to it. However, the hydrant allows you to
model the lateral pipe without actually drawing it. So, you could place the hydrant on the main water line, choose "true" for "include lateral loss" and
enter the length/diameter. Otherwise, with a junction, you would have to draw an extra pipe out from the main line to model the lateral, which counts
toward your license's pipe limit and can clutter your pipe report.

You can also easily open/close fire hydrants with the hydrant element. You can choose "open" or "closed" as the hydrant status to control whether or
not the entered emitter coefficient is applied (which in turn would be used to compute a demand.) Otherwise, with a junction, when you enter an emitter
coefficient, the program will always use it.

Lastly, the hydrant symbol appears as a hydrant and you can organize your hydrants better, instead of having them all look the same and all appear in
the same report. 

How do I global edit demands? 

This is done in the Demand Control Center. Go to Tools > Demand Control Center. You can right click on the "base flow" field and choose to global
edit. Changes made in the demand control center apply to the demand alternative assigned to the current/active scenario. Alternatively, you can
multiply your base demands without altering them by using the "demand adjustments" option in you calculation options.

Which demands are used for a steady state simulation?  

By default, a steady state simulation uses the base demands entered at node elements. Demand patterns are not considered. 

 
How can I filter a FlexTable based on a selection set (to only show
elements in that set)?

Double click your selection set to select the elements, then right click anywhere in the drawing and choose "edit group". Double click the desired
flextable and it will filter to only show elements contained in that selection set. You can also right click on a table in the flextables manager and choose
"open on selection", after double clicking the selection set. 

Why do I sometimes see a negative flow through a pipe?  

A negative flow value indicates orientation of the flow with regard to the orientation of the pipe itself. The flow arrow symbol on the pipe in the plan view
always indicates the direction of flow, and the orientation of the pipe itself is indicated by the "start node" and "Stop node" fields in the pipe properties.

If water is flowing from the "start node" to the "stop node", the flow arrow will point that way and the flow result value will be positive. If water is flowing
from the "stop node" to the "Start node", the flow arrow will point that way and the flow result value will be negative. Basically the absolute value of the
flow result field is always indicative of the flow rate through that pipe, but a negative sign will be added to indicate direction.

The reason why this behavior occurs is because in some systems, flow can often reverse direction over the course of a day. Showing the negative sign
in front of the calculated flow value is one way for the user to distinguish the current direction of flow. In general, it is recommended that you lay out
pipes in the direction that water will generally/usually be flowing, so that the calculated flows will be positive for most pipes. If you need to reverse the
orientation of the pipe, you can do so by using the "node reversal" field at the top of the pipe properties.

Note that you can see the absolute value of flow through the pipe by looking at the "flow (absolute)" field in your pipe flextable. As you might expect,
this basically removes the negative sign from the value seen in the "flow" result field.

How can I remove/disable pipe flow arrows? 

Double click "pipe" in the element symbology manager (View > Element Symbology) and the properties window will populate with some options,
including "show flow arrows?" Select "False" for this option to turn them off. In some cases, you may need to refresh the drawing by pressing F5. 

Why do I keep getting prompted to compact the database when I open

my model? What does this mean? 

When you delete an item in your model, it isn't fully removed from the database (mainly due to the undo feature.) The "compact database" function will
remove these old entries and save on disk space. Under Tools > Options > Global, you can choose to have the program automatically compact the
database after open the model a certain number of times. This is why you encounter that prompt. 

 
Why do I see residual mouse trails (visual artifacts) left behind when
moving things in the drawing pane?  

Sometimes you may see leftover "ghost" trails remaining in the drawing pane when zooming, drawing a box around elements or connecting a pipe.
This is a common issue with certain video cards / graphics hardware.

If you are using Windows XP or Windows 2000, try the following:

- Turn down video acceleration by going to start > control panel > display > settings > advanced > troubleshooting
- Switch the buffering and veritical synchronization settings in your video card`s advanced options
- Update your video card drivers from the manufacturer`s website

If you are using Windows Vista, please try editing your video card`s setting and enable Anti-aliasing (e.g. 2x, 4x, etc as
opposed to None or Application Controlled).

If this does not help and you have the V8 XM generation version of the software (example: StormCAD V8 XM, WaterGEMS V8 XM), then
try these steps:
1) Make sure the program is closed and then open up windows explorer
2) Browse to C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Bentley\\8\ (where "" is the name of
the user that you are logged in as and "" is the program you are experiencing this problem in.

NOTE: If you have Windows Vista, this file is located under: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Bentley\<software>\8\

3) Right click on Haestad.Framework.Application.GlobalUserOptions.xml and choose to edit. It should open in Notepad.

4) Locate the entry near the bottom called "AllowPartialRedraw="true"". Change "true" to "false", save and close the file.
5) Reopen the program and try the zoom tool

Note that you may need to have the latest build of the V8 XM generation for this option to be available.
Also note that if you have a V8i edition product (08.11.XX.XX) then you should have this option under Tools > Options >
Global - "use accelerated redraw". Simply toggle this to resolve the issue.

My properties window doesn't appear when I try to open it. Where did
it go? 

This issue can also happen to other windows/tools, such as FlexTables. Sometimes a window may have been docked/moved in such a way that it is
now hidden from view, or outside the bounds of your desktop. If you are unable to locate the window, you can reset the default window locations using
View > Reset Workspace. 

How can I open a model created in an older version (7.0 and below)
and retain its presentation settings?

To open the model, you must select "database files" from the "files of type" dropdown when opening a model, and browse to the .mdb file associated
with the older model. Since the presentation settings (color coding, annotation, etc) are stored in the .wcd file, they will not be imported by default. In
most cases, this is fine, and you can skip the prompt for presentation settings, since V8 XM includes more robust options for color coding and
annotation. 

If you would like to retain the presentation settings, you must export them from version 7 first, by open the model in version 7 and going to File > Export
> V8 XM Presentation Settings. Note however that this menu item will not be present unless the exact build of version 7 is 07.00.061.00 and
WaterGEMS/CAD V8 XM must have been installed second, since the installation of V8 XM is what places that menu item in V7.

For very old models, created in Version 5 or below, you will only have a .wcd. So, you'll need to first open the model in V7 (which can open .wcd files)
and save it, in order to create the .mdb file that you can import into V8.

  

A user with an older version is not able to open a project I sent them.
Can a model be 'saved down' to an earlier version? 

A model cannot be saved 'down' and most versions are not forwards compatible. For example, if you've created and saved a model in WaterGEMS V8
XM, a user with WaterGEMS V7.0 will not be able to open it. V8 XM has introduced many new element types and features, which cannot be interpreted
by the older version.

Also, there have been numerous service packs of V8, many of which are also not forward compatible. For example, build 08.09.165.00 can open
models saved in 08.09.165.12, but cannot open models saved in 08.09.400.34+. The reason is because the structure of the database files used to
store model data (the 'schema') was changed to accomodate improvements and new features. The older versions cannot interpret the new database
format.

If the user is not able to upgrade to your version, the best workaround would be to export the model to the standard EPANET 2.0 format (File > Export
> EPANET). This format can be opened in most older version. For example in V7.0, you can import EPANET via File > Import > Network. Another
workaround would be to export the model to shapefiles and then import those shapefiles with the older version.

Can I restore a backup of my projects? 

Yes. Every time you save your model, the program automatically saves backup copies of the last model revision. To restore a backup copy, close the
program and open the folder that the model is saved to. In this folder, you will see many files. Every WaterGEMS/CAD model file is comprised of 3
main files, with extensions of .wtg, .wtg.mdb and .wtg.dwh. The backups of these files have extensions of .wtg.##.bak, .wtg.mdb.##.bak and
.wtg.dwh.##.bak. (where "##" is a number, corresponding to the backup level). For example, if you saved your model as Model1.wtg, the backup files
will be Model1.wtg.01.bak, Model1.wtg.mdb.01.bak and Model1.wtg.dwh.01.bak. Sinmply copy these 3 files to another folder and remove the ".01.bak"
extensions, leaving the extensions as .wtg., .wtg.mdb and .wtg.dwh.

To configure the number of backup revisions, go to Tools > Options. In the "Global" tab, you can choose how many backup "levels". For example, if
you set this to '2', then backups for the last two saved model revisions will be retained. Otherwise, if you keep this at the default of '1', the previous
backup will be overwritten when you save the model.

Why are there so many extra element types, such as surge tank,
rupture disk, Periodic head-flow?
These elements were added in version 08.09.400.34 to support the new version of our transient simulation product, HAMMER. Models developed in
WaterGEMS or WaterCAD can be directly opened in HAMMER. So, the user can lay out their transient related elements in their WaterGEMS/CAD
hydraulic model, open the model in HAMMER and be ready to perform a transient simulation. The user can then re-open that model back in
WaterGEMS if they'd like, without losing information on the transient elements. The following is a list of transient elements and how they are handled
during a WaterGEMS/CAD steady state or EPS simulation:

 Periodic Head/Flow Element using Head: A reservoir with the HGL determined from the sinusoidal wave properties, or from the head
pattern. Only the initial (time zero) HGL is applied so that the steady state analysis will correspond to the transient initial conditions.

 Periodic Head/Flow Element using Flow: A junction with demand determined from the sinusoidal wave properties, or from the flow
pattern. Only the initial (time zero) flow is applied so that the steady state analysis will correspond to the transient initial conditions.

 Air Valve: If the "Treat Air Valve as Junction" property is set to True the Air Valve is loaded as a junction with no demand. If the "Treat Air
Valve as Junction" property is set to False, the air valve is loaded such that it opens the system to atmosphere. This is most commonly used to
simulate high points in pumped sewer systems, so the default behavior is to treat the air valve as a junction.

 Hydropneumatic Tank: A hydropneumatic tank is loaded as a normal tank with the properties of the tank being dictated by the tank
calculation model that is used.

 Surge Valve: Junction with no Demand.

 Check Valve: Short Pipe with a Check Valve in line with the direction of flow.

 Rupture Disk: Junction with no demand.

 Discharge to Atmosphere: For the Orifice and Valve types this element is loaded as a junction with emitter coefficient determined by the
flow and pressure drop properties. If either of these properties are invalid (<= 0) then no emitter coefficient is loaded. Furthermore, for the
valve type if the valve is initially closed, no emitter coefficient is loaded. For the rating curve type this element is loaded as a reservoir
connected to a GPV with rating curve used as the GPV headloss curve.

 Valve with linear area change: GPV with a headloss curve based on the valve's discharge coefficient.

 Turbine: GPV using the turbine's headloss curve.

 Orifice between pipes: GPV with a headloss curve calculated from the nominal head/flow loss using the orifice equation.

 Surge Tank: Without a check valve, this element is loaded as a tank. With a check valve this element is loaded as a Junction.

What does it mean when an element is "hydraulically disconnected"? 

This means that there is no open path for water to reach that element. It could be due to a closed pipe or mistake in the data input.  

What is the meaning of the notification "Valve cannot deliver flow",

with regards to a Flow Control Valve (FCV)? 

This simply means that the flow through the valve is less than the setting that you entered, so it is inactive. Note that a FCV does not set the flow; it
limits it.

If the flow through it is showing up as greater than the setting, then this could mean that the orientation of the valve is incorrect. Check the
"downstream pipe" property of the FCV. This is due to the flow reported at the valve having a negative sign in front of it - an FCV will not limit negative
flow, even though this just refers to the direction of flow.
 

What does the notification "pump cannot deliver desired head"

mean? 

This means that the pump would have to add more head to the system than is specified in the shutoff head, in order to push the water up to the
downstream junction. Basically, the pump cannot add enough head to be able to overcome the elevation. 

What does it mean when you encounter the message "network

unbalanced"? 

This means that for a particular timestep, the program could not converge on a balanced solution within the maximum number of trials. Between
calculation iterations, the program checks the relative change in flow, whose default value is 0.001. If it's below the "accuracy" value designated in the
calculation options, the timestep is balanced or is said to have converged, else it tries another iteration. You can try increasing the "max trials" and/or
"accuracy" value in the calculation options, but you should also closely check your data for mistakes. If this is an EPS simulation, you may get some
clues as to what is happening by checking the status of your elements in the timestep before the unbalanced one. You can also open the .RPC file
associated with your model using a text editor, such as NotePad, then check what status changes are occuring between trials. The .RPC file is an
output file that's created upon computing your model and is found in the same location where you saved your model files. Typically, an unbalanced
model is caused by problems with logical controls, valve settings (PRV, PSV, FCV setting and status), empty/full tanks or near-zero flows. First check if
your data input is correct, then consider simplifying cases where the constraints are too "tight". Meaning, any time you have a control or dynamic
element, (which can change status) the change it makes could in turn cause the hydraulics to be in a situation that causes another element to change
status. That change could then in turn cause the opposite change to occur in another element, and so forth. Checking the element status changes
during trials in the .RPC file will help you understand which elements may be running into this condition. Basically, you should make that sure your
model is not too tightly controlled/constrained.

How can I find out what version a model was created in? 

The exact version of WaterGEMS/CAD that a model was last saved in is stored in the .wtg file. These are simply .xml files, so you can open them in a
text editor such as Notepad. On the third line of text, the build number will be shown after "ProductVersionLastModified=". 

How do I import a CAD drawing? (DXF, DWG, DGN) 

This is done through the Modelbuilder tool, under the Tools menu. First, save it as a DXF. Select "CAD files" as the source in Modelbuilder and make
sure to choose the "establish connectivity using spatial data" option as well as the "" key/label field. For more detailed steps see Importing A CAD
Drawing In Bentley WaterGEMS 

How can I export my model to shapefiles? 

This is done using the export button in each element type's flextable. For example, to export your pipes to a polyline shapefile, go to View > Flextables
> Pipe Table. Use the yellow edit button to add/remove/arrange the fields you'd like included in the shapefile, filter as needed and click the Export
button at the top left corner. Select a location for your shapefile, click OK, specify labels for each column and click OK. If you'd like to export node
elements to point shapefiles, open their respective flextable and do the same thing. 

When importing a DXF as a background, it does not show up in the

model, even when pressing zoom extents. 

Since all layers will be displayed, this could be due to some extra elements being located far way from the main drawing. So, when you click the zoom
extents button, the model will zoom very far out in order to display everything. It could also occur if your model is located in a different place (based on
the X/Y.) Try going to View > Zoom > Zoom Center and zooming to a coordinate that you know is within the drawing. Also try saving and reopening the
model.

When using the AutoCAD platform, should I use layers to change pipe
color/thickness?

The preferred method would be to use the element symbology manager. For example, go to the WaterCAD/WaterGEMS menu, select "View" and then
"element symbology..". You can use this tool to establish color coding for each individual element type and even for certain selection sets of elements.
You can also change the pipe thickness in the properties window after double clicking the "Pipe" entry at the top of the Element Symbology manager.
Since element symbology is so robust, there should be no need to use AutoCAD layers to handle your symbology.

When printing the model plan view, why do I see extra blank/white
space? 

When printing the plan view, the program will fit the entire drawing pane to the paper size. So, if there is extra white space in the drawing pane, this will
be included. If your model has an elongated shape, you will need to dock toolbars to the sides of the drawing pane and stretch the separators to
manipulate the shape of the drawing pane, so that extra white space is not included. 

Note however that the aspect ratio will be retained, meaning it will not stretch the model. So, if you are trying to print a wide model on a 8.5X11 sheet of
paper, extra white space will remain below the model, since the program will not stretch the model vertically. 

My controls aren't being followed. What's going on?

First, check if this is an EPS (extended period simulation) or steady state. If steady state, note that logical controls cannot be used and will be ignored.
A control is designated as logical by the "evaluate as simple control?" check box, in the controls tab of the Controls editor window.
If the model is EPS or if simple controls are used, then you should check your control sets. In the Controls editor window, click the control sets tab and
ensure that the control(s) in question are included in your control set. Also, go to Analysis > Alternatives, expand the Operational alternatives, double
click the one used in the current scenario (designated by the red check mark) and ensure that the correct control set is being used.

What does the "evaluate as simple control" checkbox mean? What is

the difference between simple and logical controls? 

Simple controls are used in both steady state and EPS and support only basic "IF A THEN B" conditions/actions. Logical controls are only used in EPS
(not supported in steady state) and support more complex statements, such as "IF A THEN C AND D ELSE E". There are also slight differences in the
way the controls are checked and applied. 

How can I import demand information from a spreadsheet? 

As long as your spreadsheet contains a label field, with labels that match your model elements, you can do this with Modelbuilder. Choose "Excel 8.0"
as the source type and make sure to use the "Junction - demand collection" table type. For more information, see this Technote.

When importing a submodel, why do my new elements turn inactive

and old elements change their attributes to the defaults in the new
scenarios? 

This will occur if your current scenario is one that did not exist in the model that the submodel was created from. Basically there is no way for the
program to know which physical/topology information should be used for the new elements, in a scenario that was not present in the submodel. So, the
default values are used for those new elements in those existing scenarios (the default value for "is active? is "false"). If you switch your active scenario
to one from the submodel's original model, the submodel elements will become active, but then the elements from the original model will become
inactive, for the same reason.

When importing a submodel, you should first make sure the structure (parent/child relationship/hierarchy) and labels for both the alternatives and
scenarios match, between the source and destination model. Otherwise, the above difficulties will occur, due to the program creating new
alternatives/scenarios. If all the scenario/alternative labels/structures match, then the program will know where to place all of the data (which is stored
in the alternatives) from the submodel, so the physical/topology information will be present in your scenarios.

What is criticality? What is the purpose of the "criticality" and "outage

segment" subsections? 

Criticality is a unique and flexible tool to evaluate a water distribution system and identify the most critical elements. The user is allowed to shut down
individual segments of the system and the results on system performance are determined. Rather than having to do this through the scenario manager,
the user will be able to simulate a set of outages in a single run. This set can vary from a single element to each possible segment in a large system.
First, note that the program automatically figures out the segments in your model based on valves, and lists them with the elements that are included.

Outage segments - when you click on each segment listed in there, it highlights that segment in blue (in the drawing pane) and any downstream,
disconnected segments in red. So if a particular segment that you click on would cause a downstream segment to be disconnected from a source when
all it's bounding valves are closed, that disconnected segment shows up as red.

Criticality - when you click each segment in there, it will show you information on the demands that are not met when that segment's bounding valves
are closed. For example, if the closure of a particular segment would cause half of the demands in the model to be disconnected, then when you click
on that segment in the list, it will show you 50% as the shortfall. Note that the option "run hydraulic engine" exposes some additional constraints. For
example, if you enter a pressure constraint of 20psi, then if there are any demand nodes whose pressure falls below 20psi when that segment is
closed, then those demands are considered to be not satisfied, and the "shortfall" will be effected accordingly.

Why do I get a user notification about negative pressure at a pump?

This commonly occurs in cases where the user models the pump station (or connection to an existing system) using a reservoir and pump, with short
pipe between them. Typically the same elevation is used for both the pump and reservoir nodes. Since the reservoir elevation defines the boundary
hydraulic grade and since there will always been some amount of headloss through a pipe, this means that the hydraulic grade at the pump node
location will be slightly below the physical elevation. The suction pressure of the pump is derived from the difference between the hydraulic grade and
the physical elevation, so that is why the pressure ends up being negative.

You can simply ignore this informational message, but if you'd like to remove it, the solution is to simply raise the elevation of the reservoir by a small
amount. Make sure the pipe has a very large diameter and smooth roughness coefficient, too (to minimize headlosses.)

If the upstream hydraulic grade or reservoir elevation is correct, then this negative pressure message is accurate. To better understand what is
happening, create a profile of the hydraulic grade and physical elevation for this segment of piping - you will see that the hydraulic grade is below the
pump elevation. If this is an existing system, you may need to check your NPSH to ensure that cavitation will not occur at the pump. You can also
investigate ways to increase the hydraulic grade upstream of the pump.

When laying out new elements in WaterCAD/GEMS for AutoCAD, why

do elements automatically go to certain layers instead of going to the
current layer?

In version 7, there was a tool called "Element Properties" which could be uses to control which layer certain WaterCAD elements were automatically
sent to. But this tool is no longer available in V8/V8i. If the model was created in version 7 and then opened in V8, the element properties designations
may be retained.

To resolve this, you can start a new drawing, import WaterCAD model, re-set all the layers and other AutoCAD tools. It is recommended to lay out all
the WaterCAD elements in layer 0.
 

Why are there 2 entries for the same alternative in the dropdown
menu in the properties of a scenario? One with an "i" and one without
it.

When you create a child scenario, by default it inherits the selection/configuration of alternatives of the parent scenario. In which case, you will see the
"I" next to the name of the alternative. If you pick the alternative without the "I" in the child scenario, then it will no longer inherit any change to the
alternative selection made in the parent scenario. For example, Base Scenario is the parent, and it has Base Trace selected as the Trace alternative.
Now, if you go to the Child scenario, "< I > Base Trace" will automatically be selected. If you change the alternative selection in the Base Scenario to
"Trace 1" for instance, the Child scenario will inherit the same alternative selection ("Trace 1"). However, if in the Child scenario you select "Base
Trace" (without the "I"), then changing to the alternative in the Base scenario to "Trace 1" will not change the alternative selection in the child scenario.
(the selection is kept "local")

What is the asterisk column in the Alternative Editor Dialog Box used
for?

The first column (with the asterisk) contains check boxes, which indicate the records that have been changed in this alternative. If the check box is
selected, the record on that line has been modified and the data is local, or specific, to this alternative. If the check box is cleared, it means that the
record on that line is inherited from its higher-level parent alternative. Inherited records are dynamic. If the record is changed in the parent, the change
is reflected in the child.