Autodesk
Build practical water modeling skills with free educational access to InfoWorks ICM, InfoDrainage, InfoWorks WS Pro, and InfoWater Pro.
If you’re studying to become a water professional—or teaching the people who will become one—we want you to have the opportunity to work with the tools used to solve real water infrastructure challenges.
That’s why Autodesk gives eligible students and educators free educational access to professional water infrastructure software, including InfoWorks ICM, InfoDrainage, InfoWorks WS Pro, and InfoWater Pro.
These are professional water modeling and drainage design tools used to analyze stormwater, flooding, water distribution networks, and other water infrastructure challenges. Making them available through the Autodesk Education plan gives students an opportunity to build practical modeling skills while they’re still learning—and gives educators professional tools they can incorporate into teaching and research.
Eligible students and educators can receive free, one-year access to Autodesk software for educational purposes, renewable annually while they remain eligible.
What Autodesk water software is available to students and educators?
Students and educators can access several Autodesk tools for designing, modeling, and managing water infrastructure.
InfoWorks ICM
InfoWorks ICM is integrated catchment modeling software used to model complex hydraulic and hydrologic systems.
Students can use InfoWorks ICM to explore topics such as urban drainage, sewer networks, stormwater systems, flooding, and catchment behavior. Working with hydraulic models can help connect concepts learned in the classroom with the kinds of systems water professionals analyze in practice.
InfoDrainage
InfoDrainage is drainage design and analysis software for designing and evaluating stormwater drainage systems.
It can be used to explore conventional drainage infrastructure alongside sustainable drainage approaches such as swales, rain gardens, detention systems, infiltration practices, and other stormwater controls.
For students studying civil engineering, drainage, or stormwater management, InfoDrainage provides an opportunity to see how rainfall, runoff, site design, and drainage infrastructure interact as part of a wider system.
InfoWorks WS Pro
InfoWorks WS Pro is hydraulic modeling software for water distribution networks. Students can use network models to explore how water moves through distribution systems and investigate concepts such as pressure, flow, demand, pumps, tanks, valves, and network performance.
InfoWater Pro
InfoWater Pro provides water distribution modeling capabilities within an ArcGIS Pro environment. It can be used to build and analyze water distribution network models while working with spatial data and GIS-based workflows. InfoWater Pro requires ArcGIS Pro, which is licensed separately by Esri.
How can students get Autodesk water software for free?
Autodesk provides eligible students with free educational access to software through the Autodesk Education plan.
To get started:
- Choose the Autodesk product you want to use.
- Sign in or create an Autodesk account.
- Confirm your eligibility and provide any required documentation.
- Check your email for updates on your eligibility status.
- Once verified, access and download your software.
- Renew your educational access each year while you remain eligible.
Autodesk verifies student and educator eligibility for educational access. Eligibility requirements can vary, so use the Autodesk Education site for the latest requirements and instructions.
Get Autodesk products for education. Not sure whether you qualify? Check Autodesk Education eligibility requirements.
Can educators get Autodesk water software for free?
Yes. Eligible educators can also access Autodesk software through the Education plan.
For water engineering educators, that can make professional modeling tools available for classroom instruction, student projects, training, and qualifying academic research without requiring students to purchase individual commercial licenses.
Educators could incorporate water modeling software into coursework involving:
- Urban drainage and stormwater management
- Hydraulic and hydrologic modeling
- Flood analysis
- Sustainable drainage design
- Water distribution networks
- Infrastructure planning
- Water-system resilience
Students can then move beyond equations and theoretical examples to explore how different assumptions and design decisions affect a functioning model. Autodesk also offers education subscription options designed for educators who need to provide software access to a class.
Why learn water modeling software as a student?
Understanding hydraulic and hydrologic theory is fundamental to water engineering. But applying that theory to complex infrastructure systems requires another set of skills.
Modeling software gives students an opportunity to experiment with those systems.
A drainage student, for example, can explore how changing rainfall, catchment characteristics, pipe sizes, or sustainable drainage controls affects runoff and system performance. A student studying water distribution can investigate how changes in demand, network configuration, pumps, or storage affect pressure and flow.
That experience can help students:
- Connect engineering theory with practical applications
- Become familiar with hydraulic and hydrologic modeling workflows
- Understand how infrastructure components interact as a system
- Experiment with different design scenarios
- Develop skills they may encounter in professional water-engineering roles
It also allows students to make mistakes, change assumptions, and test alternatives in an educational environment before applying those skills professionally.
What can you learn with Autodesk water software?
Having access to software is useful only if you know how to use it.
Autodesk provides learning resources for its water infrastructure tools, including tutorials, documentation, courses, and example workflows.
Learn InfoWorks ICM
Students interested in catchment modeling can start by learning the fundamentals of building networks, representing rainfall and runoff, running simulations, and analyzing results.
Explore InfoWorks ICM learning resources
Learn InfoDrainage
Students studying drainage and stormwater management can learn how to design drainage networks, model runoff, evaluate sustainable drainage systems, and assess how different storm events affect a site.
Explore InfoDrainage learning resources
Learn water distribution modeling
Students interested in drinking-water systems can use InfoWorks WS Pro or InfoWater Pro learning resources to explore network modeling and analysis.
Bringing professional tools into the classroom
Free educational access isn’t useful only to individual students. It also gives educators another way to introduce real-world workflows into water engineering courses.
A theoretical lesson on stormwater runoff, for example, can become an exercise in which students build a drainage model and compare different approaches to managing the same storm. A lesson on water distribution can become an opportunity to examine how pressures and flows change when network conditions change.
The objective isn’t simply to teach students which buttons to press in a particular piece of software. Modeling can help students develop the habit of asking more important engineering questions:
- What assumptions am I making?
- How sensitive is the result to those assumptions?
- What happens when conditions change?
- Where might the system fail?
- How could I test an alternative?
Those are transferable skills regardless of which tools students ultimately use in their careers.
Building the next generation of water professionals
Water professionals are being asked to solve increasingly complex problems—from aging infrastructure and urban growth to flooding, water scarcity, and a changing climate.
Preparing the next generation to address those challenges requires both a strong understanding of engineering fundamentals and opportunities to apply that knowledge.
Giving students and educators access to professional water infrastructure software is one way Autodesk can help bridge that gap. Students can develop practical modeling experience alongside their academic studies, while educators can incorporate contemporary tools and workflows into teaching and research.
Frequently asked questions about Autodesk water software for students and educators
Which Autodesk water products are available for educational use?
Eligible students and educators can get educational access to InfoDrainage, InfoWorks ICM, InfoWorks WS Pro, and InfoWater Pro.
Autodesk’s cloud-based Info360 products are not currently included in the educational licensing program.
Can I use Autodesk water software for courses and class projects?
Yes. Eligible students and educators can use Autodesk educational access for qualifying educational purposes, including learning, teaching, training, and research.
This means the software can be incorporated into curricula, coursework, research, and class projects. Educational access cannot be used for commercial, professional, or other for-profit purposes.
Is there curriculum or training material available?
Yes. Autodesk offers free learning resources for its water infrastructure products, including courses, tutorials, documentation, and other technical resources.
Students can use these resources to start building water modeling skills, while educators can incorporate them into coursework or use them to support classroom exercises.
Is InfoWorks ICM free for students?
Eligible students can get free educational access to InfoWorks ICM through the Autodesk Education plan. Access is provided for educational use and can be renewed annually while the student remains eligible.
Is InfoDrainage free for students?
Yes. Eligible students can get free educational access to InfoDrainage through the Autodesk Education plan for qualifying educational use.
Can professors and other educators get Autodesk water software for free?
Yes. Eligible educators can also receive free educational access to Autodesk water infrastructure software. This allows educators to use the tools for qualifying teaching, training, research, coursework, and other educational purposes.
How do I get educational access to Autodesk water products?
Start at the Autodesk Education site and confirm your eligibility for educational access. Once your eligibility is verified, you can access eligible Autodesk products for educational use.
How long does Autodesk educational access last?
Eligible students and educators receive one-year educational access to Autodesk software and services. Access can be renewed annually as long as you remain eligible.
Can I use Autodesk educational software for commercial work?
No. Software accessed through the Autodesk Education plan is intended for educational purposes and cannot be used for commercial, professional, or other for-profit purposes.
Does InfoWater Pro require ArcGIS Pro?
Yes. InfoWater Pro is designed for use with Esri’s ArcGIS Pro, which must be installed separately. Autodesk provides eligible students and educators with educational access to InfoWater Pro, but access to ArcGIS Pro is provided separately by Esri.
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