BGS water management

What BGS water management does

BGS Wasser GmbH (formerly Brandt-Gerdes-Sitzmann Wasserwirtschaft GmbH) is a privately held German engineering consultancy headquartered in Darmstadt, Hesse, that delivers holistic water management solutions to public-sector clients across Germany and Austria. The firm's service portfolio spans urban drainage planning (Stadtentwässerung), flood protection (Hochwasserschutz), watercourse development and renaturalization (Gewässerentwicklung), landscape planning, DIN 19700 dam safety verifications, urban flash flood and heavy rainfall (Starkregen) analysis, and on-site measurement services delivered through its wholly-owned subsidiary IGM Messen GmbH.

The technical foundation is a proprietary suite of hydraulic and hydrological simulation software developed and maintained in-house, including INKA (hydrodynamic canal network calculation with iterative nonlinear Bernoulli solvers), MOMENT (pollutant load simulation), GINA (immission verification for wastewater discharges, approved by the Hessian Ministry HMUKLV), HYBEKA (sewage treatment plant hydraulics, available in English/Turkish), HYBNAT (precipitation-runoff modeling), WASPLA (1D water level calculation), and HYDRO_AS-2D (2D water level modeling). The UnRunOff surface runoff program was co-developed with INRIA (France) and IRB (Croatia). BGS complements in-house tools with third-party platforms such as Hydrotec's HYDRO_AS-2D, Aquaveo's SMS, and ESRI ArcGIS via custom BGS arcpy toolboxes.

Revenue is generated through two primary streams: (1) professional engineering services procured predominantly via public tender from municipal governments, water associations, and state environmental agencies, with GTM executed through direct project bidding, conference presence (DWA events), and published technical articles; and (2) proprietary software licensing and support, available via downloadable demos with quote-based pricing. The company is HPQR-certified for Hessian public procurement, was founded by Dr. Thiele Brandt (now advisory after stepping down in 2016), and is currently led by managing directors Thomas Kraus, Thomas Schönrich, and Stefan Wallisch.

Name

BGS water management

Legal name

BGS Wasser GmbH

Website

https://bgswasser.de

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

BGS Wasser is a Darmstadt-based German engineering consultancy providing hydraulic simulation software (INKA, GINA, HYBEKA, and others) alongside professional water management services for municipal governments, water associations, and state environmental agencies across Germany and Austria.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Hydraulic Engineering Consulting

NAICS

Water and Sewer Line and Related Structures Construction (237110), Water Supply and Irrigation Systems (221310)

SIC

Water Supply (4941), Water, Sewer, Pipeline, Comm & Power Line Construction (1623)

akta.pro primary industry

Water, Wastewater & Hydraulics Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Water, Wastewater & Stormwater Compliance (BPAHAJAJ), Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Control & Compliance (Storage, Separation, Treatment) (EUANAEAG)

Keywords

• Hydraulic engineering consulting
• Urban drainage planning
• Flood risk management
• Hydrodynamic simulation software
• Watercourse development

Headquarters

HQ city

Darmstadt

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Engineering Consulting Services: Professional engineering services for water management including urban drainage planning, flood protection, watercourse development, construction planning, and landscape planning. Revenue generated through project-based consulting engagements primarily with municipal governments and water associations.
2. Software Licensing and Support: Licensing and support for proprietary simulation software products (INKA, MOMENT, GINA, HYBEKA, HYBNAT, WASPLA). Software is available for download with demo versions and documentation.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

BGS Wasser provides engineering consulting for urban drainage planning, flood protection, watercourse development, and hydrodynamic modeling, delivered to municipalities, water associations, and state environmental agencies. The firm also sells and licenses a proprietary suite of hydraulic simulation software (INKA, MOMENT, GINA, HYBEKA, HYBNAT, WASPLA) and provides physical measurement services through its subsidiary IGM Messen GmbH.

Product overview

BGS Wasser (Brandt-Gerdes-Sitzmann Wasserwirtschaft GmbH) is a water management engineering firm based in Darmstadt, Germany, offering a portfolio of specialized hydrological and hydraulic simulation software products alongside professional engineering services. The core software suite includes: MOMENT (pollutant load simulation), GINA (immission verification for wastewater), HYBEKA (sewage treatment plant hydraulics), HYBNAT (precipitation-runoff modeling), WASPLA (1D water level calculation), HYDRO_AS-2D (2D water level calculation), and INKA (hydrodynamic sewer network calculation). These products operate as standalone software tools for municipal drainage, flood protection, and water quality modeling. The company also provides related services including hydraulic modeling, measurements, urban drainage planning, flood protection, water body development, landscape planning, and flood risk analysis. The software portfolio functions independently without documented third-party integrations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• INKA (Kanalnetz) Hydrodynamic sewer network calculation software for urban drainage modeling, part of the BGS model environment HydroSimM. Features iterative solution of nonlinear continuity and Bernoulli equations with losses, enabling robust calculation of large sewer networks including branching, backwater, flow reversal, shooting flow, and special structures.
• MOMENT (Schmutzfracht) Simulation software for pollutant load (Schmutzfracht) modeling in drainage systems, used for wastewater and pollution load calculations in urban drainage infrastructure.
• GINA (Immissionsnachweis) Simulation program for immission verification (Immissionsnachweis) for wastewater discharges into water bodies, officially approved by HMUKLV for conducting immission certifications in Hesse in accordance with § 57 Abs. 1 No. 2 Water Management Act.
• HYBEKA (Kläranlage) Software for hydraulic calculation of sewage treatment plants (Kläranlage), available in English and Turkish languages for international use.
• HYBNAT (Niederschlag-Abfluss) Precipitation-runoff (Niederschlag-Abfluss) modeling software for hydrological analysis of watersheds and drainage catchments.
• WASPLA (1D-Spiegellinie) 1-dimensional water level line (Spiegellinie) calculation software for hydraulic analysis of rivers and canals.
• HYDRO_AS-2D (2D-Spiegellinie) 2-dimensional water level line (Spiegellinie) calculation software for simulating two-dimensional flows in water bodies, using HYDRO_AS-2D from Hydrotec and SMS from Aquaveo.
• Stadtentwässerung (Urban Drainage Planning) Urban drainage planning and consulting services for municipal clients, covering drainage infrastructure design, hydraulic calculations, and regulatory compliance.
• Hochwasserschutz (Flood Protection) Flood protection planning and consulting services for municipalities, water associations, and state agencies, including flood hazard mapping, flood risk management plans, and retention basin investigations.
• Gewässerentwicklung (Water Body Development) Water body development and renaturalization services including river restoration, weir removal, and ecological improvement projects.
• Landschaftsplanung (Landscape Planning) Landscape planning services integrated with water management and urban development projects.
• Strömungsmodellierung (Numerical Flow Modeling) Numerical flow modeling services including 1D and 2D hydraulic modeling for water bodies, rivers, and urban drainage systems.
• Überflutungsanalysen (Flood Analysis) Flood analysis services following DWA-M 119 guidelines, including surface flow path analysis based on digital terrain models and detailed 2D hydraulic calculations for critical areas.
• Messungen (Measurement Services) Measurement services including precipitation-runoff measurements, foreign water measurements, pollutant load measurements, and calibration of calculation models, provided through subsidiary IGM Messen GmbH.
• DIN 19700 Sicherheitsnachweise DIN 19700 safety certification services for reservoirs and dams, providing regulatory compliance verification for hydraulic infrastructure.

Quantifiable outcome

• High-resolution urban flood simulations covering multiple municipal areas with detailed 2D surface runoff modeling using unstructured grids
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature11 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• IGM Messen GmbHcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerSubsidiary/affiliated company located in Bickenbach providing comprehensive measurement services since 1996. IGM Messen offers precipitation-runoff measurements for general drainage planning, foreign water measurements, pollutant load measurements, stationery measurement network consulting, compliance testing (EKVO, SüwV-kom, EÜV), measurement concept development, data analysis, and training programs. BGS website references IGM Messen as 'our subsidiary company' (Tochterfirma).
• fks Beratende Ingenieure GbRcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProject partner in joint ventures (Arbeitsgemeinschaften) for flood hazard mapping projects. Worked together on HWGK Donau project (Bavarian Danube catchment quality assurance) and HWGK Donau II (Regen-Wörnitz, Inn-Saalach, and Untere Isar areas).
• ERNST+CO Beratende Ingenieure GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in joint venture (Arbeitsgemeinschaft) for HWGK Donau II project, specifically for the Untere Isar area performing hydraulic calculations. Collaborative relationship in large-scale government flood mapping projects.
• TRİAminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTurkish distribution and partner for HYBEKA software, presenting at CeBIT Bilişim Eurasia in Istanbul in October 2013. TRİA promotes HYBEKA in Turkish market.
• BMBF (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch funding source for NiddaMan project, a BMBF-funded regional research initiative under the ReWaM (Regionales Wasserressourcen-Management) program. BMBF provided 2.4 million euros funding for the three-year project. BGS leads thematic module 3 on 'Modeling of Runoff Processes' in collaboration with Goethe University Frankfurt, University of Tübingen, KIT, TU Darmstadt, ISÖ, and Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde.
• Goethe-Universität FrankfurtcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLead coordinator of NiddaMan BMBF research project on sustainable water resource management in the Nidda catchment area. BGS contributes expertise in runoff modeling as part of this multi-institution research consortium.
• SGD Süd (Struktur- und Genehmigungsdirektion Süd)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration partner for Bienwald 2D modeling project. SGD Süd is a regional authority involved in flood management and provided cooperation for summer 2013 flood simulation modeling.
• Forstamt BienwaldminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Bienwald 2D modeling project for simulating runoff processes during summer 2013 flood event using 2D water level model.
• INRIA (National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology)coreTechnology or IntegrationInternational research collaboration for UnRunOff surface runoff program development. INRIA is a French national research institute for digital science and technology based in Bordeaux.
• IRB (Institute Ruder Bošković)coreTechnology or IntegrationInternational research collaboration for UnRunOff surface runoff program development. IRB is a Croatian research institute based in Zagreb.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Arcadis: Global design and consultancy firm with a substantial water and climate resilience practice, regularly bidding on EU and municipal flood risk and water management programs that overlap with BGS's German tender footprint.
• Ramboll: Large multinational engineering consultancy with significant water management, flood, and climate adaptation practices across Northern Europe. Competes for the same German and EU municipal tenders BGS targets, but with far broader scale and geographic reach.
• ILF Consulting Engineers: International engineering consultancy with strong water, hydropower, and infrastructure practices that frequently competes for large German flood mapping and hydraulic engineering tenders.
• Tetra Tech: Global consulting and engineering firm with deep water resources, flood management, and modeling practices, often present in EU framework contracts for flood risk and water framework directive work.
• Sweco: Northern European engineering consultancy with dedicated water and environment expertise, increasingly active in DACH and EU water framework work, competing on similar municipal and water-association engagements.
• Innovyze (an Autodesk company): Provider of industry-leading water and wastewater hydraulic modeling software (InfoWater, InfoSWMM, InfoWorks ICM). Represents the cloud-native, GIS-integrated platform direction BGS's INKA/MOMENT suite competes against for municipal RFPs.

Direct peers

• HR Wallingford: UK-based hydraulic research and consulting organization offering proprietary modeling tools and applied flood, coastal, and water engineering services — directly comparable to BGS's combination of numerical modeling and applied engineering consulting.
• DHI (Danish Hydraulic Institute): Global specialist in hydraulic and water modeling with MIKE software suite and consulting services. Competes with BGS in hydrodynamic simulation for urban drainage, flood management, and water quality.
• Hydrotec Ingenieurgesellschaft für Wasser und Umwelt mbH: German water and environmental engineering consultancy that develops and supplies HYDRO_AS-2D, the 2D water level calculation software BGS uses and resells. Direct competitor in German flood modeling and urban drainage consulting.

Others

• Aquaveo: Provider of SMS (Surface-water Modeling System) software used by BGS for 2D calculation mesh processing and visualization. Adjacent technology enabler rather than direct competitor, but their tools shape the modeling ecosystem BGS operates in.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/brandt-gerdes-sitzmann-wasserwirtschaft-gmbh

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BGS water management