How to Run EPANET and EPA SWMM on a Mac, Linux or Chromebook

Does EPANET run on a Mac?

The official desktop program does not. US EPA describes EPANET as "a Windows-based program", and its download page offers only Windows files: the EPANET 2.2 installer and a non-installing ZIP, both dated July 2020. There is no macOS or Linux download.

The engine underneath is a separate matter. It is open source C code, and EPA says continued development happens in an open source project on GitHub. The Open Water Analytics releases, now at 2.3.5, build on Linux and macOS as well as Windows, but they are the engine only, with no map or menus.

Can I run SWMM on macOS?

Not the EPA desktop program either. The EPA SWMM page offers SWMM 5.2.4 as 32-bit and 64-bit self-extracting .exe installers, which are Windows programs, and nothing built for macOS or Linux. EPA does publish the source code for both the computational engine and the interface, and the engine reaches macOS through Python packages, covered below.

That leaves five practical routes on a Mac, a Linux PC or a Chromebook. Every one of them works on the same .inp text files that the desktop programs use, so you are not locked in by the choice.

Should I run Windows in a virtual machine on my Mac?

If you need the exact EPA programs, a Windows virtual machine is the most dependable route. Microsoft's support page names Parallels Desktop versions 18, 19 and 20 as authorized ways to run the Arm versions of Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise on Macs with M1, M2 and M3 chips. That page does not list later chips, and we could not confirm their status from Microsoft.

Windows 11 on Arm runs ordinary 32-bit and 64-bit Intel programs through emulation, which is how the EPANET and SWMM installers would run there. We could not find a published test of either program in this setup, so try your own models in it before a deadline depends on it.

You need a Windows licence, a Parallels licence, and enough disk space and memory for a second operating system. On an older Intel Mac, Apple's Boot Camp installs Windows 10 directly; it does not support Apple silicon. On a Linux PC, any virtual machine software that runs Windows does the same job.

Do Wine or CrossOver work for EPANET and SWMM?

We could not confirm that they do. Wine, and CrossOver, the commercial version of Wine from CodeWeavers, run some Windows programs on macOS and Linux without installing Windows. The CodeWeavers compatibility database lists both EPANET and SWMM 5 as unrated on Mac and Linux, with no test date. The only first-hand report we found was a 2014 forum post from someone who had installed EPANET under Wine on a Mac. Treat this route as an experiment.

Can I use a Windows desktop in the cloud?

Yes. A cloud PC is a Windows computer in a data centre that streams its desktop to your device, so the EPA programs run on real Windows while you sit at a Mac, a Linux PC or a Chromebook. Microsoft's Windows 365 is one such service, sold to organisations per user per month, and Microsoft names it as an option for Apple silicon Macs. It needs a steady internet connection, and your model files sit on the cloud machine until you copy them back.

Can I run EPANET and SWMM from Python on a Mac or Linux?

Yes, and for scripted work this is the most direct route, because the engines run natively with no Windows layer. You give up the map and the menus: models are edited in code or a text editor, and you plot results yourself.

• WNTR, the water network tool from US EPA, publishes ready builds on PyPI for macOS on both Apple silicon and Intel. Its installation guide asks for 64-bit Python and lists 3.10 to 3.13 as tested.
• EPyT, the EPANET-Python Toolkit hosted by Open Water Analytics, installs with pip install epyt, and its README lists Windows, OSX or Linux.
• pyswmm runs SWMM models from Python. Its PyPI page lists macOS, Windows and Unix, and pip extras such as pip install "pyswmm[swmm5.2.4]" pin the SWMM engine to any version from 5.1.14 to 5.2.4.
• swmm-toolkit, the compiled engine that pyswmm installs, publishes macOS builds for Apple silicon and Intel.

If you would rather have a command line than Python, the Open Water Analytics EPANET source builds with CMake on Linux and macOS into a program called runepanet, as its build notes describe.

On a Chromebook, the Python route needs Google's Linux development environment, which you turn on in Settings. Not every Chromebook supports it, and school or work devices may block it.

Can I run EPANET or SWMM in a web browser?

Yes, and on a locked Chromebook it is often the only route. We build two browser tools for this, so read this section knowing they are ours.

• PipePilot is for water distribution networks. It solves them with the EPANET 2.3 engine, opens and saves standard EPANET .inp files, needs nothing installed, and is free to use. The first time you open it, it loads EPANET's own Net1 example and offers a short guided tour.
• DrainPilot is for storm water and sewer models. It runs EPA SWMM 5.2.4 compiled to WebAssembly, the same engine as the desktop EPA SWMM program, on your own computer inside the browser, so your files are not uploaded. It reads and writes SWMM 5 .inp files, lays out its menus, toolbar and Property Editor like EPA SWMM 5, and is free to use.

In both, File > Save downloads the model as an .inp file to your computer, and on a Mac the Cmd key works in place of Ctrl for keyboard shortcuts. EPA's desktop EPANET is still version 2.2, so if your client uses it, open your PipePilot file in their version once before you send it.

Ours are not the only browser option for EPANET: epanet-js also runs EPANET models in a browser and offers a free tier.

Which option should I choose?

Who you are	Best route	Why
Student on a Mac or Chromebook	Browser tool	Nothing to install, and course .inp files open as they are.
Consultant who works on a Mac every day	Browser tool, with a Windows virtual machine kept for client checks	Day-to-day modelling stays on the Mac; the EPA program is there when a client asks for it by name.
Engineer who must hand a client a desktop .inp	Any route that runs on your machine	All of them keep the standard .inp format. Open the file once in the client's EPANET or SWMM version before delivery.
Researcher running hundreds of simulations	Python (WNTR, EPyT, pyswmm)	Scripts run natively on macOS and Linux and can loop over every model and scenario.
Linux user	Python or a browser tool	Both run without Windows; use a virtual machine only if you need the EPA interface itself.
Organisation with many Mac or Chromebook users	Cloud Windows desktop or browser tool	One managed setup instead of a virtual machine on every laptop.

EPANET or SWMM: which one do I need?

EPANET models pressurised water supply networks: pipes, pumps, valves and tanks under pressure. SWMM models rainfall, runoff, storm drains and sewers, mostly flowing under gravity. If you are unsure which your project needs, our sister site Smart Bhujal compares them in EPANET vs SWMM.