Smart water networks: A systematic review of applications using high-frequency pressure and acoustic sensors in real water distribution systems

Abstract

In face of increasing stress over water resources, water authorities worldwide are looking for ways to better manage water distribution systems through technology and innovation. Despite the strong evidence pointing to the expected benefits of using high-frequency pressure and acoustic sensors to optimise urban water supply, there is limited evidence of their derived applications in real, large-scale smart water networks (SWNs). Through a systematic literature review of case studies in real, operational SWNs equipped with high-frequency pressure and/or acoustic sensors, this study identified best practices, drivers, enablers, and challenges of implementing SWNs, while providing targeted directions for future research. Key applications derived from sensors data included online hydraulic modelling, leak detection and localisation, and proactive asset management, using either, or a combination of, process-based and data-driven models. Reported applications were site-specific and most of them were limited to urban locations in developed countries. Most reported applications used pressure sensors data while applications using acoustic sensors data were limited. Applications based on pressure data included online water demand prediction, water quality control, leak detection, and risk-based asset replacement, while acoustic data were used for precise leak detection and localisation, and early detection of pipeline cracks. Applications were able to support urban water management under field conditions but often had limited applicability (e.g., single leak detection, assumption of uniform pipeline material). A lack of standardisation in case studies regarding the characterisation of the physical infrastructure of the SWN (e.g., number of sensors per pipeline length; water and economic savings) was observed. It is suggested that water managers and researchers should focus on reporting benefits and challenges of developing and implementing high frequency sensors applications in standardized and transferrable ways to enable benchmarking.