Hydroinformatics and Urban Water Management

Cities around the world are growing at an enormous rate as more and more people migrate from the countryside in pursuit of jobs and a better life. This places an increasingly heavy load on the management of viable services in such cities. Besides the more obvious problems with transport and overcrowding, there are many services that are vital yet largely hidden, such as the supply of potable water, the drainage of wastewater and storm water, the treatment of wastewater, protection from river and coastal flooding, and the environmental consequences of water pollution.

Hydroinformatics is concerned with information flows associated with the simulation modelling of water-based systems and facilitating these flows by appropriate use of information and communication technology. The flows of information are the means of providing effective support for decision making associated with integrated water management. They can be used with great benefit for planning, designing, operating and maintaining services such as water distribution and sewage networks, and treatment works, while minimising the consequences of the impact of wastewater discharges on the environment, and particularly on groundwater and receiving waters.

Advanced yet appropriate modelling systems are now in regular use for simulating flows in distribution and drainage networks, and for treatment works, as well as assessing the stationary and dynamic response of receiving waters to steady and intermittent effluent discharges. Additionally, modelling is used for flood forecasting in urban areas and for operational arrangements for flushing canals, studying sediment transport and the consequences of waste disposal plans.

What is more, systems are in place to couple simulation models to GIS and asset databases, to provide decision support to practising engineers on the rehabilitation of ageing assets, and to implement real time control on any of the urban water systems. The integration of such modelling systems and assorted tools leads to the development of hydroinformatics systems that are at the forefront of urban water management in major cities around the world.

Recent urban water management projects in which the hydroinformatics group at IHE has been involved:
European Guide for Sewerage Rehabilitation
HydroPlan-EU: Demonstration and implementation of an European knowledge management framework for a procedure on sustainable waste and drinking water asset management

Some recent MScs at IHE:

A classifier system for the control of an urban drainage network
Wades: modelling system for water distribution networks
Evaluation of overflows from a sewer system computational model using auto-regressive neural networks
Use of artificial neural networks and fuzzy adaptive systems in controlling polders water level in the Netherlands
An integrated water management model for urban areas
Uncertainty in modelling of water distribution networks for demand management and leakage control
Burst risk assessment of pipe networks - data mining application
Machine learning in real time control of regional water systems
Integrated modelling tools for Cork urban water system
Application of artificial neural networks for carrying out scoping studies in urban pollution management projects
Water distribution modelling with intermittent supply: sensitivity analysis and performance evaluation for Bani-Suhila City, Palestine
Application of Bayesian networks in hydroinformatics, including sewerage pipe collapses

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