The Impact of Ground Heat Capacity on Drinking Water Temperature
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 149, Issue 5
Abstract
Temperature is known to impact physical, chemical, and biological processes in Drinking Water Distribution Systems (DWDS), but it is rarely considered or modeled. This research evaluates the impact of considering a finite heat capacity for the ground, which has been assumed infinite in previous DWDS research. The aim of this work is to explore and quantify the region where the difference between considering infinite or finite heat capacity for the ground is significant, i.e., the distance over which water-ground heat transfer interaction is important. A detailed model comparison is carried out for key pipe materials, diameters, and hydraulic conditions. Temperature effects are found to exist for up to tens of kilometers (i.e., several hours) into the DWDS. Whereas the differences found were only a few degrees Celsius, this will affect all reaction rates, such as chlorine decay, and is at the start of the DWDS so will impact the entire downstream network. This work highlights the importance of considering temperature in DWDS, and in particular the finite heat capacity of the ground, in ensuring the provision of safe drinking water.
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Data Availability Statement
Models and code that support the findings of this study are available from the authors upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the financial support provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation—State Research Agency (Grant PID2019-111506RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha (Grant SBPLY/19/180501/000162 funded by Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha and ERDF A way of making Europe). Sarai Díaz thanks the financial support provided by the University of Castilla-La Mancha to visit the University of Sheffield in 2021.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 149 • Issue 5 • May 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 27, 2022
Accepted: Dec 2, 2022
Published online: Feb 24, 2023
Published in print: May 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jul 24, 2023
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