Internet of Things for Water Sustainability

The water is a finite resource. The issue of sustainable withdrawal of freshwater is a vital concern being faced by the community. There is a strong connection between the energy, food, and water which is referred to as water-food-energy nexus. The agriculture industry and municipalities are struggling to meet the demand of water supply. This situation is particularly exacerbated in the developing countries. The projected increase in world population requires more fresh water resources. New technologies are being developed to reduce water usage in the field of agriculture (e.g., sensor guided autonomous irrigation management systems). Agricultural water withdrawal is also impacting ground and surface water resources. Although the importance of reduction in water usage cannot be overemphasized, major efforts for sustainable water are directed towards the novel technology development for cleaning and recycling. Moreover, currently, energy technologies require abundant water for energy production. Therefore, energy sustainability is inextricably linked to water sustainability. The water sustainability IoT has a strong potential to solve many challenges in water-food-energy nexus. In this chapter, the architecture of IoT for water sustainability is presented. An in-depth coverage of sensing and communication technologies and water systems is also provided

Vulnerability based management of water resources systems

Must the water networks be fail-proof or must they remain safe during a failure? What must water system managers try to achieve? The present paper introduces a methodology for the hierarchical analysis (in time and space) of the preventive maintenance policy of water supply networks, using water supply system performance indices. This is being accomplished through a technical-economic analysis that takes into account all kinds of costs referring to the repair or replacement of trouble-causing parts of the water supply network. The optimal preventive maintenance schedule suggested by the methodology is compared with the empirically based maintenance policy applied to the Athens water supply system

A troubleshooting manual for handling operational problems in water pipe networks

The paper presents some of the most common operational problems in water pipe networks, studied in the water distribution system of Athens, the capital of Greece. The study, which took place from 1995 to 2000,concerning individual pipes of a network with a total length of 7,000 km, was based on the leakage and pipe break records kept by Athens Water Utility. The main outcome was an easy-to-use troubleshooting manual for handling operational problems in water pipe networks. This troubleshooting manual, as a product of applied research, is a knowledge base that can form the basis of an expert decision support system for detecting, identifying, studying and solving the problems that occur in a water distribution system

Ex-post evaluation of a water distribution network upgrading project

The paper presents the ex-post evaluation of a project that a Water Utility implemented in its water distribution network. The project included installation of PRVs (Pressure Reducing Valves) and launching of a Public Awareness Campaign, in order to decelerate the pipes' brake rates (by dividing the whole system into pressure zones); and decrease the urban water consumption. Break rate forecasting models are developed, using the Water Utility's records, in order to determine each pipe's optimum replacement time, based on the Present Value of all types of costs related to a pipe break. The results are compared to those of similar projects implemented in other networks having similar characteristics. Finally, the project is evaluated based both on its environmental and financial (money savings) impacts (through a cost-benefit analysis)

Assessing the results of a virtual pressure management project applied in Kos Town water distribution network

Water pressure management (PM) is one of the most cost-effective ways for a water utility to reduce water leakage, pipes’ bursts, improve the level of services provided to its customers and lower its operating expenses. The present paper presents a pilot pressure management project designed for the water distribution system of Kos Town (capital of Kos Island, Greece). Kos Town experiences extreme variations regarding its population served by the local water utility between summer and winter. The PM implementation was achieved by developing the system’s hydraulic simulation model using the commercial software, Watergems V8i. For the water demand allocation of the model, the spatial allocation of water demand at street level approach was used because the customers’ water meters were not geo-referenced. The results were compared to multiplicatively weighted Voronoi diagram method’s results and to field measurements. The simulation process took into account the respective demand patterns of the various types of urban water uses, considering the water volume being lost through leaks/breaks occurring in the pipe network, as a competitive use. Each kind of water used was divided into a pressure dependent part and a volume depended one. Both parts were introduced to the model. The designing phase of the PM included the formation of district metered areas and Pressure Reducing Valves (PRVs) installation. The reduction in pressure within acceptable regulation limits resulted in the reduced needs of System Input Volume (SIV), due to significant reduction of anticipated water losses and authorized consumption, as both these “water uses” are pressure dependent. There were many simulations of different scenarios in time (monthly) and PRVs’ configuration. Regarding the latter, several types of PRVs and their settings were tested (e.g. fixed PRVs; PRVs with modified daily pattern; PRVs combined with local pressure boosters). The virtual scenarios resulted in reducing the SIV up to 24%. The related water savings have a direct positive environmental impact on the aquifer supplying Kos Town. These outcomes persuaded the local water utility to proceed with the actual implementation of the pilot study by installing the necessary system devices (either for measuring data or for pressure reducing) in more than 40 manholes across the town. © 2015 Balaban Desalination Publications. All rights reserved

Reaching economic leakage level through pressure management

High non-revenue water (NRW) values as a percentage of system input volume form a serious problem that many water utilities worldwide have to confront nowadays. There are ways to mitigate the effect by adopting strategies with short- and long-term results. Water pressure management (PM) is one of the most efficient and effective NRW reduction strategies. To calculate pressure management of economic level of leakage (ELL), several steps have to be taken, such as full water costing, calculation of economic benefits and losses of PM interventions and definition of the related investment's break-even point. In this paper, the results of these three procedures required to define the ELL level are analyzed, in order to present the way they are linked together. The water distribution system of Kozani city (in Northern Greece) is used as the case study network. The results of both the net present values PM implementation results and the investment's break-even estimation are analyzed. © IWA Publishing 2016

Urban water use conservation measures

This paper presents details of residential water use conservation techniques. Its main goal is to present, as clearly as possible, the operational measures that are included in an integrated residential water use conservation programme that is implemented in a rapidly developing area under water shortage conditions. The implementation steps and results of an urban water pricing policy programme adopted in Athens, the capital of Greece, are presented to verify the programme's practicality and effectiveness