Analysis and Management of Water Distribution Systems

A description is given of an integral approach to the management of urban water distribution systems, having as its objective the synthesis of the following elements - the planning, design, operation and control of the network, and the pricing of the resulting service. Analysis of the problem necessitates the use at various levels of different balancing techniques, and suggests the need for data concerning the structure of the consumer demand (in time and space), for individual consumers and for defined user groups. Accordingly, a study has been made of the variations of consumer demand, on a time scale varying from 1 min to 1 day, in representative single family and multiple family dwellings in two cities, Sherbrooke and Sainte-Foy (Province of Quebec, Canada). For the latter municipality a study of the possible control of the water distribution system in real time, as a function of predicted consumer demand, is described. Finally, a pricing structure based on the observed variations of the consumer demand is proposed.