Restructuring a Water Distribution Network through the Reactivation of Decommissioned Water Tanks

Abstract

Water resource management is a topic of great environmental and social relevance, since water must be preserved and managed to avoid waste, providing high quality service at fair tariffs for the consumer, as imposed by the European Water Directive (2000/CE). In the rehabilitation of a water distribution network, it may be suitable to recover decommissioned water tanks, if any, rather than afford high construction costs to build new ones. In this case, the assessment of the residual service life of these concrete structures affected by steel bar corrosion is the premise for the design of new pipeline routes, connecting them. For this aim, rather than carrying tests that can accurately determine mechanical properties of the dismissed water tanks, it is possible to empirically estimate their level of degradation. Their conditions infer on the expected life of the restructured water distribution network. However, they allow the aqueduct to be used for its technical duration, assumed to be equal to the decommissioned water tanks residual service life in the case they do not require maintenance. Here, a simplified model for the assessment of the residual service life of decommissioned water tanks is first proposed and then applied to a case study, consisting of a part of the water network managed by “Ausino S.p.A. Servizi Idrici Integrati”, Cava de’ Tirreni, Italy. Once the service life is assessed, the QEPANET plugin is used in QGIS to speed up the design of the new pipeline routes in the georeferenced space, thus overcoming the limits offered by the classic EPANET solver.

Hydraulic and economic analysis for rehabilitation of water distribution networks using pipes cleaning and replacement and leakage fixing

“…The rehabilitation of the WDN can be made applying different proposals or a combination of them, such as: increase in pump stations power (Souza et al, 2022), cleaning or replacing pipes (D'Ercole et al, 2018), fixing leakages (Haider et al, 2019), increase storage capacity (Viccione et al, 2019). Obviously, the proposal able to restore the WDN conditions with the lowest cost is desired, but this is not easy to find, since the combination of two or more approaches can significantly modify the hydraulic conditions of the WDN.…”

Insights on the Water–Energy–Food Nexus

“…Water supply network assets are also of interest regarding water losses. Specifically, the residual service lives of decommissioned water tanks should be assessed [22] to better manage water supply systems. As drinking water supply systems are vulnerable both spatially and temporally, it is important to use key performance indicators (such as leakage reduction, pressure-driven demand reduction and energy and economic savings) [23] for the improvement of water distribution system management.…”

“…Applications related to leakage management and life assessment of water tanks are presented in [21,22]. Leakage in water distribution systems is responsible for economic and environmental impacts.…”

“…Water supply systems' assets suffer from longstanding use. Viccione et al [22] presented a simplified model for the assessment of the residual service lives of decommissioned water tanks and applied it to a case study. Once the service life is assessed, a plugin is used in Q Geographic Information System (QGIS) to speed up the design of the new pipeline routes in the georeferenced space, thereby overcoming the limits offered by the classic solver of the hydraulic simulation model software tool (EPANET).…”

Drinking Water Tank Level Analysis with ARIMA Models: A Case Study

“…The management of water distribution networks (WDNs) relies on water utility operations consisting of usually quick responses to either water demand or source variations as well as the effects of network aging [1,2]. Recently, the development of real-time control (RTC) strategies based on the use of measurement devices, with compact technology at affordable prices, has been facilitated by their straightforward implementation in Internet of Things (IoT) technologies as well as in Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems [3].…”