Influence of varying base demands on water age in a water distribution system

Abstract

Water age is a very helpful parameter that supplies a fast, general evaluation of the water quality within a water distribution system (WDS). The paper presents a comparative analysis in the process of modelling water distribution systems (WDS), taking into consideration water age parameter. The age of the water in WDS is a parameter that determines its freshness. The main purpose of the presented research was to analyze changes in water age by linking it to demand through the development of a hydraulic model using the EPANET program. Over a 7-day period, a series of simulation cases were performed by varying the demand in each node of the water distribution system. This comparative study has the aim of analyzing the water supply network, showing in which way the efficiency of the system changes due to changes in water age. The results show that a 10% change in water demand led to an almost 20% impact on the maximum water age. Specifically, an increase in water demand/consumption resulted in a reduction in water age. Furthermore, our simulations demonstrated that the exact time related to the water age parameter can be calculated through the hydraulic modelling program, highlighting the potential for precise analysis of water age dynamics in WDS.