Water and wastewater services have been provided through centralised systems for more than a century. The operational and management approaches of the water systems face challenges induced by population growth, urbanisation, and ageing infrastructure. Recent advancements in water system engineering include the development of intelligent water networks. These intelligent networks address management and operational challenges associated with pressure and flow variations in the water network and it reduces the time for identification of pipe bursts and leakages. Research is required into the development of intelligent water networks to ensure consistent data collection and analysis that can filter and aggregate into actionable events to reduce water leakage, leakage cost, customer disruptions, and damages. Implementation of an intelligent algorithm with an integrated Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, high-efficiency smart sensors, and flow meters, including a tracking mechanism, will significantly reduce system management and operational issues and ensure improved service delivery for the community. This paper discusses the history of water systems, traditional water supply systems, need for intelligent water network, and design/development of the intelligent water networks. A framework for the intelligent water network has also been presented in this paper.

With the rise of smart water cities, water resource management has become increasingly important. The increase in the use of intelligent leak detection technologies in the water, gas, oil, and chemical industries has led to a significant improvement in safety, customer, and environmental results, and management costs. The aim of this review article is to provide a comprehensive overview of the application of software and hardware-based technologies in leak detection and bursts in water pipeline networks. This review aims to investigate the existing literature on the subject and to analyse the key leak detection systems in the water industry. The novelty of this review is the comprehensive analysis of the literature on software and hardware-based technologies for leak and burst detection in water pipe networks. Overall, this review article contributes to understanding the latest developments and challenges in the application of software- and hardware-based technologies for leak and burst detection in water pipe networks, and serves as a valuable resource for researchers, engineers, and practitioners working in the field of water distribution systems.