Impact of Storage Tanks on Energy Consumption in Municipal Water Distribution Systems

Municipal water distribution systems (MWDS) use a significant amount of electrical energy for the pumping of water from low elevations to higher ones. The use of electrical energy has an effect on pollution emissions and, therefore, potential global climate change as well. There are many aspects of MWDSs that affect energy usage. The properties of the storage tank(s), namely diameter and tank maximum water level, are singled out here for analysis. Various values of these tank parameters are modeled on seven MWDSs of various sizes using a system solver and the energy usage recorded. It was found that when averaged over all seven systems analyzed (1) a reduction of tank diameter of 20% results in approximately a 4% energy savings, and (2) the reduction of maximum tank water level by 20% results in approximately a 1% energy reduction.