Integrated water distribution system modelling: Two casestudies from Poland

P. Wjtowicz*, A. Pawlak*, A. Zikowski**and J. Studziski***

*

Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Wrocaw University of Technology, Wybrzee Wyspiaskiego 27,

50-370 Wrocaw, Poland, e-mail: patryk.wojtowicz@pwr.edu.pl
**
Warsaw School of Information Technology, Newelska 6, 01-447 Warsaw, Poland
***
Polish Academy of Science Systems Research Institute, Newelska 6, 01-447 Warsaw, Poland

Abstract: We present research and innovation aimed to meet the need for a scalable, automated and
robust solution for water utilities that can integrate existing (commercial, in-house and open source)
software and hardware solutions into one package, benefiting in a synergetic effect. In this paper, we
demonstrate the results of tests in two contrasting (by type and size) case-studies. First was a largescale main water transportation system of the Upper Silesian Waterworks in Katowice, Poland. In the
other case-study, we implemented ICT system in a typical medium sized municipal water supply in
Gubczyce Water Utility. These two case-studies provided unique opportunity to test various
approaches to calibration as well as automatic hydraulic model updating and validation. In our custom
semi-automated calibration procedure, we applied combination of fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms.
In particular, we demonstrate the integration between hydraulic model, GIS, telemetry and custom
modules for multi-criteria optimisation.
Keywords: Water network; simulation; network control; telemetry; data integration; ICT; optimisation

Introduction
In recent years, a rapid growth of IT, automation and measurement technologies
accelerated the implementation of computer aided decision systems in the water
sector. A typical water utility uses a billing system, GIS, telemetry system and, in
most cases, a hydraulic model (usually highly skeletonized to include only the main
pipelines). The main focus is usually concentrated on maintaining billing and GIS
systems (GIS mainly for network mapping), because they are essential part for
everyday practice. The telemetry system apart from signalling malfunctions and some
basic control collects enormous size of raw measurement data that is not used for
anything of great importance. A simulation model, disconnected from GIS, is usually
outdated and used very rarely for some basic analyses (e.g. system capacity
evaluation), although each utility employs its own practices.
This particular situation (intentionally dramatized by Authors to point out
challenges) is a result of evolutionary process that began in the early 1970s as IT tools
were coming into everyday practice in the water utilities. Because of this iterative
process linked to the evolution of software and hardware, the connections and
interfaces for data exchange between these tools were not created. It is now required
to capitalize on recent IT advancements and practices to fully realize the advantages
of integrated tools for water utility management.
This research and innovation aim to meet the need for a scalable, automated and
robust solution that can integrate existing (commercial, in-house and open source)
software and hardware solutions into one package, benefiting in a synergetic effect. In
this paper, the concept of original ICT system is presented and illustrated through two
case-studies: one in Upper Silesian Waterworks (USW) in Katowice, Poland
(Wjtowicz et al. 2015) and the other in Gubczyce Water Utility (GWU). These two

cases are completely different and were chosen very carefully to test ICT system in
different environments.
Presentation of the two case-studies
The Upper Silesian Waterworks is the largest water utility in Poland and one of the
biggest in Europe (Figure 1). It delivers water to over three million customers in the
Silesian Metropolis very densely populated area known for coal mining and heavy
industry. The main water transfer system is composed only of main pipelines
connecting 48 cities and several major industrial customers. The USW network covers
an area of about 4 300km2 and the water network is over 880 km long.
The second case-study in city Gubczyce (Figure 2) is an example of typical
medium-size municipal distribution system, serving about 15 000 customers in the
area of approximately 20 km2. The total length of water network (within city limits) is
over 42 km.
Integrated ICT system for water utilities
The universal ICT system consists of four key elements (Figure 3). Geographic
Information System for generating and maintaining the topology of the water
network. Telemetry system for measuring and recording the main hydraulic and
water quality parameters. Custom in-house hydraulic model MOSKAN-W and
optimization modules with several algorithms and subprograms responsible for the
computer aided solutions of the typical water network management tasks.
Optimization tasks in the management of water supply networks can be defined as
discrete, continuous or mixed multi-criteria optimization. In the case of model
calibration, we have combined the theory of fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic with genetic
algorithms. We have validated our method with the real data in two presented case
studies (Figures 4 6).
The GIS and hydraulic model of the water network are key modules in the ICT
system. A network graph with all up-to-date parameters (based on data stored in the
GIS database) is automatically generated and the complete hydraulic model is
transferred to the in-house modelling software MOSKAN-W (Sualec et al. 2014).
GIS integration enables on-the-fly network skeletonization required for different types
of analyses, especially for the optimization modules.
Conclusions
We have showed how the integrated decision support tool can be implemented in
the different type and size water distribution networks facing different short-term and
long-term challenges. The key elements of this system have been examined, namely
GIS, telemetry, hydraulic model as well as tools for multi-criteria optimisation and
forecasting. The GIS was used to manage and process input and output data from the
model. Specific aspects of data collection, model calibration and simulation were
discussed. Special focus was given to the development of the hydraulic model for the
two different water distribution systems. We demonstrated that the developed ICT
system can be an affordable, flexible and scalable tool able to offer significant
operational benefits for the water utilities of different sizes.

Acknowledgments
This research was financed by the Polish National Centre of Research and Development (NCBiR),
Project ref. no. POIG.01.03.01-14-034/12 and PBS3/B3/31/2015.

References
1. Sualec A., Studziski J., Zikowski A. (2014) MOSKAN-W - the web
application for modelling and designing of water supply systems, Simulation in
Umwelt- und Geowissenschaften, ASIM-Mitteilung AM 150, Osnabrck 2014,
Germany, Shaker Verlag, Aachen, 143-153.
2. Wjtowicz, P., Studziski, J., Pawlak, A. (2015). Preliminary results of hydraulic
modelling and calibration of the Upper Silesian Waterworks in Poland, 11th
International Conference on Hydroinformatics HIC 2014, 17-21 August, 2014, New
York, USA.
Figures

Figure 1. The Upper Silesian Waterworks main water distribution system.

Figure 2. Hydraulic model of the Gubczyce Water Utility water supply system.

Figure 3. Schematics of ICT system

Figure 4. Example of input data for the calibration algorithm.

Figure 5. Calculation results for the calibration algorithm.

Figure 6. Observed and simulated pressure before (left) and after calibration (right).