'Terrorist Proof' U.S. water facilities

Leading Australian water industry company Optimatics is responding to US water authorities call for help to "terrorist proof" their facilities.

Water authorities in the US are now reacting to Federal legislation that was passed to secure vital utilities against another disaster in the wake of the September 11 World Trade Centre attack.

The Bali bombing close to Australia's shores has only heightened concerns in the US that more covert attacks can be expected against basic infrastructure services.

Optimatics - based in South Australia - is a specialist consulting firm on water distribution system design and operations. It is the world leader in the specialised field of computer software and engineering consulting for the optimisation of water supply network designs.

The company's technology is built around intelligent design solutions and a class of software called Genetic Algorithms (GA). These algorithms are mathematical tools that assist in making complex design or operational decisions.

This decision-making tool is ideal to assist engineers to arrive at the best solution during the design and operations of difficult tasks.