Integrated pressure control strategies for sustainable management of water distribution networks

Abstract

Pressure control in urban Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) allows to reduce water losses, delays asset deterioration and makes effective replacement works. This contribution presents an integrated approach to control pressure for leakage reduction that combines a recent strategy for optimal design of district metered areas (DMAs) with optimal setting of pressure reduction valves. DMA design strategy encompasses the possibility of reconfiguring water flows by closing some gate valves at district boundaries, while the optimal setting of PRVs driven by local or remote real time controls improves leakage reduction and reliability of final solution. The integrated approach is implemented into the WDNetXL platform for advanced WDN analysis, planning and management and is demonstrated on a real urban WDN in Southern Italy. As such, this work proposes an innovative methodology while demonstrating its transfer to water utilities and practitioners to support decisions in real-world complex scenarios.