Advanced modelling and optimization in drinking water distribution systems

“The representation of our drinking water distribution systems in numerical models has come such a long way that they have become an established operational tool for the water utilities in many countries. Hydraulic models started out as a tool that only represented the largest transport mains, but evolved to
all-pipes models nowadays, which are used, for example, for determining continuity or safety of supply, or water quality modelling to ensure a residual chlorine level. However, the introduction of more detail and more information in these models over the past decades can lead to the paradoxical outcome that we know less about the actual functioning of the system than before, when models were simpler. The main reason for this is that in order to generate a detailed model that is actually representative of the real world situation, the quality of the data from which the model is constructed should be high and uncertainties must be limited.”

(Citaat: van Thienen, P., Vertommen, I., Mesman, G.A.M. – Advanced modelling and optimization in drinking water distribution systems – WaterSolutions (2017)4, p.55-58)