Chiara Maria Fontanazza

Evaluation of the apparent losses caused by water meter under-registration in intermittent water supply.

Apparent losses are usually caused by water theft, billing errors, or revenue meter under-registration. While the first two causes are directly related to water utility management and may be reduced by improving company procedures, water meter inaccuracies are considered to be the most significant and hardest to quantify. Water meter errors are amplified in networks subjected to water scarcity, where users adopt private storage tanks to cope with the intermittent water supply. The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of two variables influencing the apparent losses: water meter age and the private storage tank effect on meter performance. The study was carried out in Palermo (Italy). The impact of water meter ageing was evaluated in laboratory by testing 180 revenue meters, ranging from 0 to 45 years in age. The effects of the private water tanks were determined via field monitoring of real users and a mathematical model. This study demonstrates that the impact on apparent losses from the meter starting flow rapidly increases with meter age. Private water tanks, usually fed by a float valve, overstate meter under-registration, producing additional apparent losses between 15% and 40% for the users analysed in this study.

A model of the filling process of an intermittent distribution network

In many countries, private tanks are acquired by users to reduce their vulnerability to intermittent supply. The presence of these local reservoirs modifies the user demand pattern and usually increases user water demand at the beginning of the service period depending on the tank filling process. This practice is thus responsible for the inequality that occurs among users: those located in advantaged positions of the network are able to obtain water resources soon after the service period begins, while disadvantaged users have to wait much longer, after the network is full. This dynamic process requires the development of ad hoc models in order to obtain reliable results. This paper discusses a numerical model used for evaluating this complex process as well as the application of model to an Italian case study. The model agreed with calibration data and provided interesting insights into the network filling process.

Impact of rainfall data resolution in time and space on the urban flooding evaluation

Climate change and modification of the urban environment increase the frequency and the negative effects of flooding, increasing the interest of researchers and practitioners in this topic. Usually, flood frequency analysis in urban areas is indirectly carried out by adopting advanced hydraulic models to simulate long historical rainfall series or design storms. However, their results are affected by a level of uncertainty which has been extensively investigated in recent years. A major source of uncertainty inherent to hydraulic model results is linked to the imperfect knowledge of the rainfall input data both in time and space. Several studies show that hydrological modelling in urban areas requires rainfall data with fine resolution in time and space. The present paper analyses the effect of rainfall knowledge on urban flood modelling results. A mathematical model of urban flooding propagation was applied to a real case study and the maximum efficiency conditions for the model and the uncertainty affecting the results were evaluated by means of generalised likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) analysis. The added value provided by the adoption of finer temporal and spatial resolution of the rainfall was assessed.

A composite indicator for water meter replacement in an urban distribution network

In water supply management, volumetric water meter are typically used to measure users consumption. With water meters, utilities can collect useful data for billing, assess the water balance of the system, and identify failures in the network, water theft and anomalous user behaviour. Despite their importance, these instruments are characterised by intrinsic errors that cause so-called apparent losses. The complexity of the physical phenomena associated with metering errors in aging water meters does not allow meter replacement to be guided by single parameters, such as the meter age or the total volume passed through the meter. This paper presents a meter replacement strategy based on a composite ‘Replacement Indicator’ (RI) that aims to reduce apparent losses. The performance of a meter during its operating life was analysed by means of this indicator, which signals when the meter needs to be replaced. To test the reliability and robustness of the proposed indicator, a Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis was performed. The methodology was applied to a real case study: a district metered area (DMA) in the Palermo city water distribution network (Italy). The analysis showed that ranking based on the composite indicator is better than common ranking procedures based on typical variables (e.g., the meter error curve or the meter age): the proposed indicator can better select the meters to be replaced and favourably affect the associated costs.

Experimental Evidence of Leaks in Elastic Pipes

Several studies have been carried out in recent decades to establish a relationship between total head and leaks. In literature, the leakage governing equations have been analysed in light of pipe materials, water head, leak dimension or shape. Most of these contributions questioned the classical Torricelli equation, demonstrating through experimental evidence that the classical orifice law can give unsatisfactory results. Nevertheless, starting from the Torricelli equation, other exponential or linear governing equations have been proposed as mathematical models able to reproduce the leakages in water distribution systems (WDSs). To investigate the validity of the proposed governing equations, an experimental campaign was carried out by means of a water distribution network composed of approximately 500xa0m of polyethylene pipes. The experiments were designed to investigate the effects of leak area and pipe rigidity on discharge. Furthermore, the effect of leak size enlargement with water head was analysed. Finally, the proposed research contributes to the population of a database for estimating the coefficients of head-discharge relationships.

The apparent losses due to metering errors: a proactive approach to predict losses and schedule maintenance

The effects of water meter age and private tanks on the apparent losses due to metering errors were evaluated by experimental and theoretical analyses. A monitoring campaign on a small district metered area (DMA) was carried out to determine the causes of apparent losses and implement a numerical model. Metering errors are affected by the flow rate passing through the meter, which is dependent on the network pressure and water level of the private tank. A node model that reproduces the effect of private tanks was coupled with EPANET and was applied to the DMA. The proposed modelling approach was used to identify where apparent losses are higher and to schedule maintenance. The model predicted the results of the installation of a device that minimises the effect of private tanks on apparent losses, the unmeasured flow reducer (UFR), the economic impact of losses and substitution programmes.

Urban Drainage And Sustainable Cities:How To Achieve Flood Resilient Societies?

This paper tries to describe the main developments of urban flood forecasting and modelling. Currently, several new technologies are available for flood monitoring, modelling and mitigation and several paradigms suggest the adoption of greener approaches to urban storm water management. These tools and new approaches can be easily adaptable to new developments where the entire urban drainage system can be suited to follow a more sustainable way to drain storm water. The challenge for the future is instead aimed to apply this new philosophy to existing urban areas where the application of new tools and technologies requires high costs and such approaches have to be prepared by constructing a flood resilient society by means of education and capillary information.