Inexpensive Modeling of Intermittent Service Water Distribution Networks

Intermittent supply is prevalent among developing countries. Inequitable water distribution, possible water contamination, wasting water, coping costs of consumers and water providers, meter malfunctioning and inconvenience to consumers are some of its consequences. There are two major views on how this problem should be considered. The first view looks at a transfer to the 24-hour supply by reducing water loss and adding new supply sources, while the other accepts intermittent supply as a reality and looks for appropriate design and operation methods that can minimize its negative impacts. Important differences between intermittent and continuous service water distribution networks operation should be considered in the second case, such as initial network charging, pressure-dependent water demand, and design pressure. In this paper, the use of known free public domain network models, such as SWMM for modeling initial pipe network charging and EPANET for modeling the network intermittent operation, is proposed and exemplified.