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Water utilities continue to lose substantial volumes of potable water through network leakage. While regular maintenance addresses some losses, controlling water pressure reduces background leakage arising from pipes, joints, and connections. A fast and efficient computational method determines operational time schedules and flow modulation curves for pressure reducing valves within district metering areas. The approach differentiates between network structures, establishing that while single-inlet areas can accommodate both time and flow modulation, multi-inlet areas are limited to time modulation due to the operational risk of valve hunting. Additionally, the technique distinguishes boundary valves from internal valves. Boundary valves rely directly on valve set-points, whereas internal valves are managed using valve resistance values that are automatically converted into set-points for direct field implementation.
Treated drinking water is routinely lost through underground pipe leaks, wasting valuable resources and placing financial strain on water utilities. By calculating optimal pressure schedules and valve modulations, water providers can curb network pressure and limit leaks without interrupting customer supply. This provides a structured approach to preserving municipal water resources and maintaining pipeline infrastructure.
This control method is directly applicable to water utility operators and water management software providers. Derived from applied experience across pressure control initiatives and the Neptune project, the approach produces ready set-points for operational deployment. It represents applied software research that is closely aligned with operational practice, enabling network engineers to optimise pressure reducing valves in existing district metering areas.
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Despite operational improvements over the last 10–15 years, water utilities still are losing a significant amount of potable water from their networks through leakage. The leakage is managed on the one hand by reactive and proactive maintenance and on the other hand by pressure control to reduce background leakage from connection and joints. This paper is based on experience from the Process Control — Water Software Systems group which was involved in many pressure control projects and the current Neptune project (www.neptune.ac.uk). A fast and efficient method to calculate time schedules and flow modulation curves is presented. Both time and flow modulation can be applied to a single inlet DMA. Time modulation can be applied to a multi-inlet district metering area (DMA) but this is not always possible for flow modulation due to the risk of hunting. It is convenient to distinguish between boundary and internal pressure reducing valves (PRVs), the decision variable for a boundary valve is a PRV set-point whereas for the internal valves it is a valve resistance. The resistance is then automatically translated into a set-point for field implementation.
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DOI: 10.1061/41024(340)58
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