Our History

Sometimes being at the right place at the right time with an openness to new approaches leads to a better path forward.
Emery Coppola’s intuition that AI and optimization could be combined to help solve some of water management’s most challenging problems came to fruition during his Ph.D. dissertation.
Dr. Mary Poulton and Dr. Ferenc Szidarovszky were Emery’s dissertation advisors at the University of Arizona, one of the world’s premier hydrology and water resources research institutions. They supported Emery in his work and following his graduation, they enthusiastically united to carry it forward. NOAH was accepted into the highly acclaimed University of Arizona Center for Innovation, a nationally and internationally recognized science and technology business incubator where the foundation of the company was developed.
Together, Drs. Coppola, Poultan, and Szidarovszky developed and refined NOAH’s advanced patented AI and optimization-based decision support system for superior real-time water resources management. In the age of Big Data, their “data-driven” system has assumed an even greater relevance to today’s water management challenges.
Years before others in the water sector embraced AI, NOAH brought this transformative data analytics technology to the marketplace to assist in solving the most challenging and serious water management problems across the globe. While our initial focus has been on the water sector and related energy consumption, NOAH’s innovative systems and technology can also be applied to other resources management needs.

As the first company in the world to specialize in the application of AI to water resources management. NOAH’s patented system has evolved over time. Our innovative proprietary methods and algorithms are designed to meet the rapidly changing needs of the water sector.

NOAH was the first to apply AI to a number of important real-world water management applications, including:
  • Accurately predicting groundwater elevations in complex groundwater systems in response to variable pumping and weather conditions
  • Accurately predicting saltwater upconing in a coastal aquifer in response to variable weather and pumping conditions
  • Accurately predicting hydraulic states in a water distribution system
  • Combining AI with formal optimization to optimize hydraulic operation of water distribution system (for a mid-sized U.S. city)
  • Combining AI with formal optimization to minimize energy consumption costs for a public supply wellfield
  • Using AI to perform multi-objective optimization of a public supply wellfield to balance total groundwater extraction with its vulnerability to contamination
NOAH has consulted to nations in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, as well as Australia. Our clients in the United States have included the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Geological Survey, as well as State agencies and private water utilities.

Every team needs a leader, even when the team is as accomplished as NOAH’s.

Emery Coppola, whose fascination with water began in childhood, is that person for NOAH.

Emery’s passion and drive have kept the enterprise going even when launching the company seemed hopelessly out of reach, as is often the case with a company determined to tackle complicated, difficult problems to solve.

As the NOAH Team says, “Emery is the glue that binds us, has the passion and drive that fuel us, and manages to keep a disparate group of people (all with strong opinions of their own and the credentials to back them up) engaged and working together.” NOAH exists because of the vision, brilliance, and determination of Emery Coppola, as do the water management and data solutions you need for your business.