Drinking Water Distribution Systems: Theory and Application of an Urban Observatory

As urbanization continues to increase and climate changes continue to impact our water cycle, the importance for understanding the complex interactions occurring between and within the urban and natural environments continues to be more important. When considering an urban center, the intake of water — primarily for potable water production — is impacted by the interplay of the hydrological cycle with both the natural and engineered systems located upstream of that center. Within an urban center, the production of potable water is utilized for both potable and non-potable uses and must satisfy a complex, sometimes conflicting set of regulatory constraints. These systems also must handle changes in water use through conservation efforts, development of "grey water" infrastructure, and continuing challenges to protect public health. The return of this water back to the environment through the sewer and storm water system is challenged by an increasingly aged infrastructure that must avoid direct discharges of untreated water into the receiving waters; and, factoring the potential benefit of low impact development, on improving and maintaining these systems as the hydrologic cycle changes. As the water then leaves the urban center, the remaining water quantity and quality now impacts the downstream natural and urban environments, where the urban water cycle repeats itself. Understanding the complex interactions within one of these natural or urban systems, let along the interactions between them, is a challenging but necessary objective if we are to continue developing sustainable water resource strategies into the future. The role of the developing "observatories" will be an important part of collecting the data necessary to understand these complex, spatially diverse systems. The additional role of "cyber-infrastructures" as data repositories and simulation frameworks will provide the platforms to amplify research efforts by making this information available to research groups throughout the world. The following sections describe out on-going efforts in developing the cyber-infrastructure for implementing an urban observatory within drinking water distribution systems.