MODELING THE DUBAI SEWERAGE AND DRAINAGE SYSTEMS

by
Dominique Brocard, Eldo George, Laith Salem and B.S. Pradeep
(Khatib and Alami and Metcalf & Eddy International, Dubai, United Arab Emirates)

ABSTRACT

As part of a sewerage and drainage masterplan for the fast growing city of Dubai, United
Arab Emirates, models of the entire sewerage and drainage systems were developed using
MOUSE. Dubais present population of 800,000 is projected to increase to 2,100,000 by year
2012. The masterplan is aimed at setting the directions for the rational expansion of the
wastewater collection and treatment systems, as well as the drainage network. Precipitation
is rare in Dubai, but drainage is nevertheless required to control flooding and groundwater
elevations which have been rising in the past few years.

A feature of the Dubai models is that they include all the manholes and conduits in both the
sewage and drainage systems, thus ensuring a direct correlation between the models and
system databases. For the simulations of interest, which generally cover two days of real
time, the required computer times remain affordable. If needed the models can be simplified
for more rapid evaluations, but the comprehensive models will remain as a base.

Sewerage System Model. The overall sewerage system model includes about 11,400
manholes, as many pipes and 72 pumping stations, each simulated with their individual
pumps and their pump curves. To facilitate use for system evaluation the larger model was
broken up into five smaller models covering the areas serviced by the main pump stations
which are (essentially) independent hydraulically. The Dubai metropolitan area is divided
into approximately 70 planning communities within which sewage flow contributions were
distributed uniformly to all manholes. The flow quantities were determined from a one-
month flow monitoring program conducted at 22 sites. For the areas not monitored
contributions were determined as a proportion to the water supply with a ratio dependant on
the type of development. A diurnal curve was developed from the monitoring program. The
model results were used to identify the sections of the system which are presently overloaded,
as well as those which are under loaded and available for the conveyance of future flows.

Drainage System Model. The drainage system is divided into numerous hydraulically
independent individual subsystem terminating at a pumping station or freely discharging into
the Dubai Creek or Arabian Gulf. These separate systems, however, were combined into two
models for each side of Dubai Creek containing respectively 4,100 and 2,800 manholes, as
many pipes and catchments and, respectively, 21 and 7 pumping stations. The drainage
system includes numerous sections of dual pipes with drainage conduits in parallel to slotted
pipes designed to control the groundwater table. Run time for a two-day simulation is on the
order of 10 hours for each model on a 133 MHZ Pentium. For specific investigations, the
overall models can be broken up as needed. The runoff is calculated in the model using
MOUSEs Hydrologic Model A, configured to mimic the rational method, which is typically
used in Dubai for drainage calculations and design. Because significant precipitation is rare
in Dubai, some amount of street flooding is allowable and the design criterion for the
drainage system is based on the time required to clear flooding for an 18 mm rainfall event.
 MODELING THE DUBAI SEWERAGE AND DRAINAGE SYSTEMS
by
Dominique Brocard, Eldo George, Laith Salem and B.S. Pradeep
(Khatib and Alami and Metcalf & Eddy International, Dubai, United Arab Emirates)

INTRODUCTION

The City of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, located on the Eastern shore of the Arabian Gulf,
anticipates continuation of the large population growth which has been experienced in the
recent past. Dubais present population of 800,000 is projected to increase to 2,100,000 by
year 2012. To ensure an orderly development, a Structure Plan was developed specifying the
patterns of growth of the City, including residential, commercial, industrial, open space and
conservation areas. The Sewerage and Drainage Masterplan is aimed at setting the directions
for the rational expansion of these systems. As part of this masterplan, MOUSE models of
the sewerage and drainage systems, which are completely separated, have been developed and
used.

The sewerage system is made up of several sub-systems tributary to major pump stations
which convey the wastewater to a central pump station (Pump Station X) located
approximately 14 km inland (Figure 1) and hence to the Al Awir Sewage Treatment Plant.
There, the wastewater undergoes tertiary treatment and is almost totally reused for irrigation
of the city's soft landscaping. Wastewater is also contributed to the system by tank trucks
which discharge septic tank contents at several pump stations. Objectives of the sewerage
system hydraulic model were to permit evaluation of:

The degree of utilization of the existing system

The capacity of the existing system to meet future needs
Proposed new infrastructure
The impact of large scale development projects

The drainage system is divided into numerous hydraulically independent subsystems

terminating at a pumping station or freely discharging to the Arabian Gulf or Dubai Creek, a
tidal inlet which extends 10 km inland. In addition to conveying runoff, the drainage system
is also designed to control the groundwater table elevation, which has shown tendencies to
rise due to the combination of unavoidable water supply system leaks, percolation of
irrigation water and reduced evaporation brought about by paving. To meet this dual
purpose, the drainage system includes numerous sections with stormwater drainage conduits
and slotted pipes in parallel, as well as sections where the stormwater pipes are slotted. The
slotted pipes are surrounded by aggregate enclosed in a permeable filter fabric membrane to
prevent migration of fines and attendant clogging.

Because significant precipitation is rare in Dubai, some amount of street flooding is allowable
and the design criterion for the drainage system is based on the time required to clear flooding
for a designated rainfall event, which is now an 18 mm storm. The clear times depend on the
land use, and proposed criteria are listed in Table 1.

2
 Table 1. Proposed Drainage Clear Times for Design Storm

Classification Maximum
Clear Time (hrs)
Residential 6
Commercial 4
Industrial 4
Roadways
Local 6
Collector 6
Secondary Arterial 4
Arterial 2
Underpasses 0

SEWERAGE MODEL

Model Structure. For completeness, it was decided to include all the manholes in a basic
version of the model, based on the sewer system database developed for the project. In the
typical modeling methodology coverage is limited to the larger pipes because flow conditions
in the smaller pipes is typically not a concern, and including all the pipes lengthens the
simulation time and complicates modeling logistics. However, as PC capabilities and
modeling software keep improving, modeling systems with several thousand manholes and
pipes becomes possible and will probably become more common. From a purely hydraulic
standpoint, a complete system model may be considered a heresy. Such a model, however,
can be simplified as needed for specific investigations, without the limitation inherent in an
already simplified model. Another benefit brought about by modeling a system in its entirety
is the direct correspondence between model and system database. This correspondence helps
ensure that the database is correct, as the hydraulic model will point to incorrect connectivity,
elevations or pump characteristics. Experience with several hydraulic models of sewer
systems indicates that system databases (when they exist) or plans invariably contain
inaccuracies and errors.

For Dubai, a single model for the entire sewerage system was developed, but this model
contains approximately 11,400 manholes and, as a result, it is somewhat unwieldy for
evaluation or design use in specific areas. Therefore, the larger model was also broken up
into five smaller models covering the areas serviced by the main pump stations which are
(essentially) independent hydraulically: C, G, E, S and K (Figure 1). At present a single
diurnal curve can be specified for the entire model. For specific uses in limited areas, this
diurnal curve can be adjusted, although the capability of the model to accommodate several
diurnal curves would be valuable.

Flow Inputs. Dubai is divided into administrative communities within which sewage flow
contributions were distributed uniformly, except when information was available for
community sections, such as from the flow monitoring program. An issue which resulted
from the inclusion of all the system pipes in the model is that MOUSE generates flow in
conduits with water depths less than a set value. The initial version of the model used for the
3
project had a minimum flow depth which was larger than the flow depth in small pipes, so
that significant extraneous flows were generated, up to half of the inflows. A more recent
version of the model allows the user to specify the minimum depth, which was set at 1 mm,
eliminating the problem. No instabilities were observed as a result of the low flow depths.

The parameters input to the model for specification of manhole dry weather flows and the
way in which they were established are:

Contributing area (ha). Determined as total developed community area divided by

number of manholes in community. All manholes in a community are assigned the
same catchment area.

Daily per person sewerage flow contribution, set at 220 lpcd = 0.22 m3/pers/day

Population density (p/ha). Determined as population from Structure Plan, divided by

community developed area, corrected to equivalent population density with 220 lpcd
contribution. For those communities not monitored, the per capita contribution was
set based on the water supply flow multiplied by Sewage/Water Ratios listed in Table
2 as was determined from the flow monitoring program.

Table 2. Average Sewage Generation Rates

Community Description Average Average Sewage/Water

Sewage Water Ratio
Generation Consumption
(lpcd) (lpcd)
Low-Medium Income 147 191 0.77
High Density
Resid/Commercial
Medium-High Income 155 193 0.77
High Density
Resid/Commercial
Medium-High Income 209 265 0.77
Low Density Residential
Medium Income 165 237 0.70
Medium Density Residential
Average 170 222 0.77

Diurnal Curve. One diurnal curve must be specified for the entire model. This curve is
applied to modulate the dry weather inputs, which are specified at each manhole. To develop
the model diurnal curve, the flow measurements from the monitoring program were used.
The input diurnal curve, however, differs from the diurnal curve obtained by non-
dimensionalizing the flow measurements, as the latter includes averaging due to the
summation of flows with different travel times to the monitoring site. Thus, the input diurnal
curve should be closer to the monitoring diurnal curve for small catchments.

The diurnal curve specified in the model was based on flows measured at a flow monitor with
a catchment area of 5.1 ha. For this site, diurnal curves for week days are shown in Figure 2
4
for the four weeks of monitoring, as well as an average curve. Each weeks curve is based on
the average of the measurements at the same time of day for the six weekdays, divided by the
average flow during that week. The curves exhibit some scatter because of the instantaneous
nature of the measurements which are recorded every 5 minutes. The weekday diurnal curve
for this site shows a minimum of about 0.2 at 3 am, which is due in part to infiltration. To
produce the sewage input diurnal curve, infiltration was assumed equal to 90% of the
minimum night time flow and subtracted from the dimensionless flow curve. Infiltration was
then added back in proportion to the diameter-length of each pipe.

In the UAE, Friday is the weekend day and the corresponding dimensionless flow curve for
the same flow monitor is also shown in Figure 2. The Friday diurnal curve has a peak of
about 2.2 at 1 pm, compared to 1.8 at 7 am for the weekday curve and the average flow on
Fridays was about 10% more than the average weekday flow. Thus, Fridays are the more
critical period relative to system capacity

Pump Stations. The operating characteristics of the 72 pump stations were simulated in the
model. Pump curves were specified in terms of flow versus differential head, based on the
characteristics of the pumps actually used. This approach required extensions of the pump
curves to accommodate the range of conditions which can occur. In particular, at the start of
simulations, there will be no water in the rising mains downstream of the pump stations and
the differential head on the pump may be negative. Therefore, the pump curves have to be
started at a negative head. Need for this fictitious branch of the pump curve would be
alleviated if it were possible to set initial conditions in the model. The ability to specify a hot
start is of limited value in this instance, because this cannot be done any time a change is
made in the system. To minimize large changes of flow, a point was specified on the pump
curve with a low flow at the startup static head (static head downstream minus startup level
upstream). From this point, the pump curve goes to the maximum flow point and the last
point is at peak head, zero flow. An example pump curve used in the model is shown in
Figure 3. Two of the three branches of the curve are fictitious. A problem which was
occasionally encountered was that the pump would operate on the fictitious branch of the
pump curve and fail to jump onto the real pump curve. Of particular importance is the
correct specification of the downstream rising main characteristics. Start and stop levels were
specified based on judgement.

Model Calibration and Application. Typically, two-day long simulations were conducted,
the first day being used to reach steady state. A comparison of measured and calculated
heads and flows at one of the monitoring sites is shown in Figure 4. The model flows and
water levels generally match the measurements, except for the spikes in the model results
which are due to the specification of the start and stop levels for the pumps. Another type of
result used was plots of degree of filling of pipes, to provide an indication of the remaining
capacity of the existing conduits. Such a plot is presented in Figure 5.

5
DRAINAGE MODEL

The hydraulically separate drainage systems were combined into two models for each side of
Dubai Creek containing, respectively, 4,100 and 2,800 manholes, as many pipes and
catchments and, respectively, 21 and 7 pumping stations. Run times for a two-day simulation
is on the order of ten hours for each model on a 133 MHZ Pentium, but smaller subsystems
can be studied separately if needed.

Runoff Calculation. The runoff is calculated in the model using MOUSEs Hydrologic
Model A, configured to mimic the rational method, which is typically used in Dubai for
drainage calculations and design. The input data required by the model and how they were
established is described below:

Catchment area, determined from delineation based on the network of gullies to the
manhole and the general topography of the area.

Percent impervious, determined from the average land use in area. A value of 0.4 was
typically used in medium to low density residential areas and 0.7 was used in high
density residential/commercial areas.

Reduction factor, accounting for water losses due to evapotranspiration or imperfect

imperviousness. This factor was set at 1.00, indicating no runoff reduction relative to
that calculated from the specified percent imperviousness.

Initial loss, defining the precipitation depth required to start runoff. To match the
rational approach, this initial loss was set to zero.

Time/Area Curve, accounting for the effect of the catchment shape on the runoff
hydrograph. Pre-computed curves are available in MOUSE for rectangular, divergent
and convergent catchments. Rectangular catchments were used (Type 1) unless
inappropriate.

Groundwater Discharge. Infiltration in the sections of slotted pipes was estimated based on
the operating time records of the downstream pump stations, when applicable. Infiltration at
joints in sections of non-slotted pipes was specified based on the average infiltration flow per
diameter-length found in the sewerage model from the flow measurements.

Model Application. The Dubai drainage system is intended to surcharge for most storms,
and MOUSE was found to operate well under those conditions, and to provide usable
estimates of clear times. The inability to set the surface area of the flooding storage above
ground level, however, provided estimates of flooding depth which were sometimes
unrealistic. Examples of hydraulic profiles calculated at two different times during a storm
are shown in Figure 6. The model capability to present animations of the hydraulic grade line
was found useful for presentation and analysis of the results.

6
RECOMMENDED MOUSE IMPROVEMENTS

Based on our experience working with MOUSE for these applications, we have prepared the
following list of upgrades to the MOUSE system which we believe would enhance its
usability. Some of these are mostly relevant to large models, but others apply to models of
any size:

1. Provide spreadsheet-type functions such as a "fill down" command for all input
menus.

2. Provide an "undo" function.

3. Projects are automatically saved upon closing, even if no changes are made. For our
files this can represent a significant inconvenience. An option should be provided to
not automatically save files.

4. If a DXF file is loaded in the background (especially big files) the horizontal plan
view window goes blank when trying to zoom in close. This should be corrected to
benefit from the purpose of the window.

5. Number of node characters is too limiting. A minimum of 12 characters is

recommended.

6. A function that specifies initial conditions should be added.

7. Ability to change the default storage size for flooding should be provided.

8. Increase number of decimals for specifying additional flows to manholes. Currently,

the user is limited to 3 decimals.

9. Provide ability to use different diurnal curves for different areas.

10. Provide ability to specify different per capita flows for different areas

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Dubai Sewerage System

Figure 2. Diurnal Curves
Figure 3. Typical Model Pump Curve Specification
Figure 4. Model Calibration Results for Depth and Flow
Figure 5. Subsystem Pipe Capacities
Figure 6. Drainage System Hydraulic Profiles