Use of Hydroinformatics Technology for Real Time Water Quality Management and Operation of Distribution Networks.
Case Study of Villavicencio , Colombia
Alfonso
Segura Leonardo
March 2006
Abstract
Most of the water supplies systems in developing countries do not guarantee
the access to safe dinking-water, due to either the intermittency nature of the
systems or the poor operational practices in continuous supplies. These
situations affect directly the efforts that the world is paying with regards to
the achievement of water supply–related UN Millennium Development Goals. Within
this context, the present research demonstrates the development of a variety of
Hydroinformatics tools developed for real-time management of different and
frequent water quality problems occurring in developing countries. The
developed applications include: a new approach for switching the intermittent
condition towards the pressurised one; posing and solving the operational
responses to contamination events as an optimisation problem; a demonstration
of the utilisation of the Short Messages Services for real time management of
contamination. All the tools have been tested and applied to a case study of
the water supply system of
As one of the main results, this study demonstrates how the developed tools
combined into one software application (QmagNet-V) can be helpful in the
management of a contamination event, preparing SMS to advise the operators and
to warn the affected population. The direct conclusion of the research is that
the safe-drinking water could be improved in supply networks by means of the
available technology and the hydroinformatics knowledge. Additionally, the
developed application proved to have a real possibility to be an important
complement of the Water Quality Surveillance Information System, tool developed
by the Colombian National Health Institute.
Keywords: Water Quality, Distribution Networks Management, Short Message
Service, Intermittent Supply, Operational Optimisation