diff --git a/swmmio/core.py b/swmmio/core.py
index b8c2815..05ab85f 100644
--- a/swmmio/core.py
+++ b/swmmio/core.py
@@ -96,9 +96,26 @@ class Model(object):
     J1        13.392       NaN        0.0             NaN         0.0
     """
     def __init__(self, in_file_path, crs=None, include_rpt=True):
+        """
+        Initialize a swmmio.Model object by pointing it to a local INP file
+        or a URL to a remote INP file. 
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        in_file_path : str
+            Path to local INP file or URL to remote INP file
+        crs : str, optional
+            String representation of a coordinate reference system, by default None
+        include_rpt : bool, optional
+            whether to include data from an RPT (if an RPT exists), by default True
+        """
 
         self.crs = None
         inp_path = None
+
+        # if the input is a URL, download it to a temp location
+        in_file_path = functions.check_if_url_and_download(in_file_path)
+
         if os.path.isdir(in_file_path):
             # a directory was passed in
             inps_in_dir = glob.glob1(in_file_path, "*.inp")
diff --git a/swmmio/tests/test_functions.py b/swmmio/tests/test_functions.py
index 81db0b1..e956d81 100644
--- a/swmmio/tests/test_functions.py
+++ b/swmmio/tests/test_functions.py
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 import pytest
+import unittest
+from unittest.mock import patch, mock_open, MagicMock
+
 import swmmio
 from swmmio.tests.data import (MODEL_FULL_FEATURES__NET_PATH,
                                OWA_RPT_EXAMPLE, RPT_FULL_FEATURES,
                                MODEL_EX_1_PARALLEL_LOOP, MODEL_EX_1)
-from swmmio.utils.functions import format_inp_section_header, find_network_trace
+from swmmio.utils.functions import format_inp_section_header, find_network_trace, check_if_url_and_download
 from swmmio.utils import error
 from swmmio.utils.text import get_rpt_metadata
 
@@ -97,3 +100,48 @@ def test_network_trace_bad_include_node():
         path_selection = find_network_trace(m, start_node,
                                             end_node,
                                             include_nodes=["1000"])
+
+class TestCheckIfUrlAndDownload(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    @patch('requests.get')
+    @patch('tempfile.gettempdir')
+    @patch('builtins.open', new_callable=mock_open)
+    def test_download_file(self, mock_open, mock_gettempdir, mock_requests_get):
+        # Mock the response from requests.get
+        mock_response = MagicMock()
+        mock_response.status_code = 200
+        mock_response.content = b'Test content'
+        mock_requests_get.return_value = mock_response
+
+        # Mock the temporary directory
+        mock_gettempdir.return_value = '/tmp'
+
+        url = 'https://example.com/path/to/file.txt'
+        expected_path = '/tmp/file.txt'
+
+        result = check_if_url_and_download(url)
+
+        # Check if the file was written correctly
+        mock_open.assert_called_once_with(expected_path, 'wb')
+        mock_open().write.assert_called_once_with(b'Test content')
+
+        self.assertEqual(result, expected_path)
+
+    @patch('requests.get')
+    def test_download_file_failed(self, mock_requests_get):
+        # Mock the response from requests.get
+        mock_response = MagicMock()
+        mock_response.status_code = 404
+        mock_requests_get.return_value = mock_response
+
+        url = 'https://example.com/path/to/file.txt'
+
+        with self.assertRaises(Exception) as context:
+            check_if_url_and_download(url)
+
+        self.assertIn('Failed to download file: 404', str(context.exception))
+
+    def test_not_a_url(self):
+        non_url_string = '/Users/bingo/models/not_a_url.inp'
+        result = check_if_url_and_download(non_url_string)
+        self.assertEqual(result, non_url_string)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/swmmio/utils/functions.py b/swmmio/utils/functions.py
index f679fd8..17b1c81 100644
--- a/swmmio/utils/functions.py
+++ b/swmmio/utils/functions.py
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 import warnings
 import pandas as pd
 import networkx as nx
+import os
+from urllib.parse import urlparse
+import tempfile
+
+import requests
 
 from swmmio.utils import error
 
@@ -296,4 +301,39 @@ def summarize_model(model):
     
     if len(model.nodes.dataframe) != 0:
         model_summary['invert_range'] = model.nodes().InvertElev.max() - model.nodes().InvertElev.min()
-    return model_summary
\ No newline at end of file
+    return model_summary
+
+
+def check_if_url_and_download(url):
+    """
+    Check if a given string is a URL and download the 
+    file to a temporary directory if it is.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    url : str
+        string that may be a URL
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    str
+        path to the downloaded file in the temporary directory or 
+        the original string if it is not a URL
+    """
+
+    if url.startswith(('http://', 'https://')):
+        r = requests.get(url)
+
+        # get the filename from the url
+        parsed_url = urlparse(url)
+        filename = parsed_url.path.split('/')[-1]
+
+        temp_path = os.path.join(tempfile.gettempdir(), filename)
+        with open(temp_path, 'wb') as f:
+            if r.status_code == 200:
+                f.write(r.content)
+            else:
+                raise Exception(f"Failed to download file: {r.status_code}")
+        return temp_path
+    else:
+        return url
\ No newline at end of file