AquacycleUserGuide PDF

Prepared by
Grace Mitchell
www.toolkit.net.au/aquacycle
USER GUIDE
Document History
Date Author Revision Description of Change
December 2004 Grace Mitchell 1.0.0 First version of the User Guide
December 2004 Keirnan Fowler 1.1.0 Toolkit version
December 2004 Keirnan Fowler 1.2.0 Altered tutorial and ordering of Chapters
Minor revisions of the reformated document
Febuary 2005 Grace Mitchell 1.2.1 This document applies to version 1.0.0 of the
Aquacycle software.
Copyright Notice
© Copyright Monash University, Grace Mitchell, CRC for Catchment Hydrology 2005. Except as permitted
under the Australian Copyright Act 1968, this manual may not be copied or distributed by itself except with
express written permission of Grace Mitchell and the Director of the CRC for Catchment Hydrology
Correspondence can be entered on the CRCCH Toolkit website: www.toolkit.net.au.
Legal Information
To the extent permitted by law, the CRC for Catchment Hydrology (including its employees and consultants)
accepts no responsibility and excludes all liability whatsoever in respect of any person’s use or reliance on
this publication or any part of it.
This manual provides information on the use of Aquacycle computer software and is circulated to
encourage research, discussion and comment within the community by those concerned with urban water
resource management and the reuse of stormwater and wastewater.
The model is intended as a gaming tool rather than a design tool, giving an overall impression on the
feasibility for using stormwater and wastewater at a particular site.
Monash University, Grace Mitchell and the parties to the CRC for Catchment Hydrology ("the licensor")
make no representations about content and suitability of this information for any purposes. It is provided
"as is" without express or implied warranty. The licensor disclaims all warranties with regard to this
information including all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall the licensor be
liable for any special, direct or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss or
use, whether in action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of the use of, or
performance of this information.
Program Support
This manual and the Aquacycle software are available from:
Cooperative Research Centre for Catchment Hydrology
Centre Office
Department of Civil Engineering
Monash University
Clayton, Victoria 3168
Telephone: +61 3 9905 2704
Fax: +61 3 9905 5033
www.toolkit.net.au
Acknowledgements
This manual and the software it describes are an outcome of a postgraduate research project
that was jointly funded by the CRC for Catchment Hydrology and Monash University. The
University of Melbourne Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering also provided
considerable support.
The valuable input of the individuals who have provided feedback and insightful comment on
beta and final versions of the software are gratefully acknowledged. Their effort in
documenting their experiences with the software has enabled a number of enhancements
and code corrections to be implemented and tested.
This user guide was written by Grace Mitchell. The conversion of the User Guide to a Toolkit
User Guide was done by Keirnan Fowler. The User Guide was reviewed by Nick Murray.
Contentsi
AQUACYCLE
CONTENTS
1 Introduction...........................................................1
1.1 The user guide.............................................................................................. 1
1.2 Related documents ........................................................................................ 1
1.3 Software....................................................................................................... 2
1.3.1 Overview .................................................................................... 2
1.3.2 Audience .................................................................................... 2
1.3.3 Limitations .................................................................................. 2
1.3.4 Changes in comparison to the beta version .................................... 2
Bugs Fixed .................................................................................. 3
Enhancements............................................................................. 3
1.4 Data requirements......................................................................................... 4
1.4.1 Input data................................................................................... 4
1.4.2 Output data................................................................................ 4
2 Installation ............................................................6
2.1 Technical specifications.................................................................................. 6
2.2 Licence agreement ........................................................................................ 6
2.3 Installation ................................................................................................... 7
2.3.1 Data .......................................................................................... 7
2.3.2 Auto-update feature ..................................................................... 7
3 Aquacycle Tutorial .................................................8

3.1 Getting started.............................................................................................. 8
3.1.1 Installing Aquacycle ..................................................................... 8
3.1.2 Starting Aquacycle ....................................................................... 8
3.1.3 Loading input data files ................................................................ 8
3.2 The tutorial scenario inputs............................................................................. 9
3.3 Running the simulation................................................................................. 11
3.4 Viewing the results of a simulation................................................................. 11
3.5 Optimising the size of a store........................................................................ 12
3.6 Further reading ........................................................................................... 13
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Aquacycle User Guide
4 Using Aquacycle ..................................................14

4.1 Starting Aquacycle........................................................................................14
4.2 Managing input data....................................................................................14
4.2.1 Loading input data files ...............................................................14
4.2.2 Saving input data files .................................................................14
4.3 Program screens ..........................................................................................15
4.3.1 Splash screen.............................................................................15
4.3.2 Main screen...............................................................................15
4.3.3 Input Edit screen.........................................................................15
4.3.4 Viewing Results screen.................................................................16
4.3.5 Simulation Performance screen ....................................................16
5 General description of Aquacycle.........................17

5.1 The urban water cycle...................................................................................17
5.2 Modelling approach.....................................................................................18
5.3 Model structure and key features....................................................................19
5.4 Conceptual representation of the urban water cycle .........................................20
5.5 Spatial scale................................................................................................21
5.5.1 Unit block scale..........................................................................22
5.5.2 Cluster scale ..............................................................................22
5.5.3 Catchment scale.........................................................................22
5.6 Using stormwater and wastewater ..................................................................23
5.6.1 Preferences in supplying a demand from multiple available
sources......................................................................................23
6 Model Operations ...............................................25

6.1 Calculation of stormwater flows .....................................................................25
6.1.1 Impervious surface runoff ............................................................25
6.1.2 Pervious surface runoff and baseflow ............................................26
6.1.3 Inflow and infiltration into the wastewater system ............................26
6.1.4 The inclusion of irrigation ............................................................27
6.2 Calculating evapotranspiration ......................................................................27
6.2.1 Actual evapotranspiration from pervious areas ...............................27
6.2.2 Evaporation from impervious surfaces ...........................................28
6.3 Residential indoor water use ..........................................................................28
What if the average occupancy is not a whole number? ..................29
What if the average occupancy is greater than 7? ..........................29
6.4 Leakage......................................................................................................29
6.5 Imported water ............................................................................................30
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Contents
iii
6.6 Wastewater discharge.................................................................................. 30

6.7 Impervious surface storage ........................................................................... 30
6.8 Pervious surface storage............................................................................... 30
6.9 Groundwater storage................................................................................... 30
6.10 Stormwater store operation........................................................................... 30
6.10.1 First flush diversion..................................................................... 31
6.10.2 Rainwater tanks and effective roof area ........................................ 32
6.11 Wastewater treatment and storage operation.................................................. 32
6.12 Aquifer storage and recovery operation ......................................................... 33
6.13 Assessing performance of a reuse scheme...................................................... 34
6.14 Optimising the size of a storage.................................................................... 35
6.15 Transfer of water between clusters ................................................................. 35
7 Modelling Assumptions and Cautions ..................37

7.1 Aquacycle assumptions ................................................................................ 37
7.2 Aquacycle cautions...................................................................................... 39
7.2.1 Irrigation demand ...................................................................... 39
7.2.2 Small storage size ...................................................................... 39
8 Calibration and Verification of Parameters...........40

8.1 Objective functions to evaluate the parameter set ........................................... 40
8.2 Selecting an optimum parameter set.............................................................. 41
8.3 Verification of the parameter set for Aquacycle ............................................... 42
8.4 Calibration and validation tools in Aquacycle ................................................. 43
8.5 Guidance on calibration parameter values..................................................... 43
Appendix A - Abbreviations ..........................................45
Appendix B - References ...............................................49
Appendix C - Technical Reference.................................51

C.1 - Input files ........................................................................................................ 52
C.1.1 - Indoor water usage profile file ........................................................... 52
C.1.2 - Climate data file.............................................................................. 53
C.1.3 - Unit block file.................................................................................. 53
C.1.4 - Cluster file ...................................................................................... 54
C.1.5 - Catchment file................................................................................. 55
C.1.6 - Parameter and initial value file .......................................................... 56
iii
C.1.7 - Group file........................................................................................57

C.1.8 - Recorded file....................................................................................58
C.2 - Output files......................................................................................................58
C.2.1 - Simulation output file ........................................................................58
C.2.2 - Optimisation output file.....................................................................59
C.2.3 - Catchment balance file .....................................................................59
C.2.4 - Cluster daily water balance output file.................................................60
C.2.5 - Unit block daily water balance output file ............................................61
C.2.6 - Catchment monthly output file............................................................62
C.2.7 - Cluster monthly output file .................................................................65
C.2.8 - Catchment annual output file .............................................................67
C.2.9 - Cluster annual output file ..................................................................69
C.2.10 - Catchment water demand output file ................................................71
C.2.11 - Cluster Water Demand Output File...................................................71
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Contentsv
TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 3-1: The main screen with tutorial files loaded............................................................................9
Figure 3-2: The Measured Parameters input edit screen.......................................................................10
Figure 3-3: Household water sources at the cluster scale. ....................................................................11
Figure 3-4: Annual water balance in clusters 1 and 2..........................................................................12
Figure 3-5: The optimising storage size screen....................................................................................12
Figure 3-6: The volumetric reliability of the different size rainwater tanks tested during the optimisation ....13
Figure 5-7: Urban water system as represented by Aquacycle...............................................................18
Figure 5-8: The structure of the Aquacycle computer program. ............................................................19
Figure 5-9: The conceptual representation of the urban water cycle.....................................................21
Figure 6-10: The calculation of pervious surface evapotranspiration.....................................................28
Figure 6-11: Structure of the stormwater store ...................................................................................31
Figure 6-12: Structure of the wastewater treatment and storage unit .....................................................33
Figure 6-13: Aquifer storage and recovery system structure..................................................................34
Figure 6-14: Performance measures for a household rain tank system located in Woden Valley,
Canberra. .......................................................................................................................35
Figure 8-15: The simulation performance screen of Aquacycle.............................................................43
TABLE OF TABLES
Table 1-1: Input Data Files .................................................................................................................4
Table 1-2: Output Files......................................................................................................................5
Table 2-3: Technical specifications required to run Aquacycle................................................................6
Table 5-4: Key feature of Aquacycle ..................................................................................................20
Table 5-5: Methods for stormwater and wastewater reuse available in Aquacycle...................................23
Table 5-6: Preferences in supplying a demand from multiple available sources......................................24
Table 6-7: Indoor water use (L/d) for Canberra, 2003 with no demand management ............................28
Table 8-8: Aquacycle calibration parameter set ..................................................................................41
Table 8-9: Measuring model performance (Source: Chiew and McMahon, 1993) .................................42
Table 8-10: Aquacycle calibration parameter values for the Woden Valley catchments (Source:
Mitchell et. al., 2001) .......................................................................................................44
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Introduction
1 Introduction
Aquacycle is a daily urban water balance model which has been developed to simulate the
total urban water cycle as an integrated whole and provide a tool for investigating the use of
locally generated stormwater and wastewater as a substitute for imported water alongside
water use efficiency.
Aquacycle has the capability of modelling a single land block (referred to as a unit block)
such as a residential property through to an entire urban catchment. A catchment may be
dis-aggregated into up to 50 clusters (or sub areas).
Land use in a cluster is separated into unit blocks (lots), road, and public open space. Road
areas are assumed to be impervious and all public open space is assumed to be pervious.
Unit blocks can be separated into roof, paved and pervious surfaces.
Aquacycle produces daily, monthly, and annual estimates of water demand, stormwater
yield, wastewater yield, evaporation, imported water use, stormwater use, and wastewater
use, as well as performance measures of any water management strategies selected.
1.1 The user guide

This User Manual provides a step-by-step tutorial, a guide to general program navigation
and information on parameters used in Aquacycle. Appendix C provides technical reference
details on how to edit the programs input files.
1.2 Related documents

The Aquacycle model is substantially based on the concepts presented in the following
paper:
Mitchell, V. G., Mein, R. G., & McMahon, T. A. (2001) Modelling the Urban Water Cycle.
Environmental Modelling & Software, Vol. 16 (7) pp 615-629.
There are several other reports and conference papers which discuss the use of the total
water balance analysis of Aquacycle:
Mitchell, V. G., Mein, R. G., McMahon, T. A., (1999) Assessing the Reuse Potential of
Stormwater and Wastewater in Urban Areas. Industry Report 99/14, CRC for
Catchment Hydrology, Melbourne.
Mitchell, V. G., Mein, R. G., & McMahon, T. A. (2002) Utilising Stormwater and Wastewater
Resources in Urban Areas. Australian Journal of Water Resources, Vol. 6 (1) pp
31-43.
1
Mitchell, V.G., McMahon, T.A. and Mein, R.G. (2003) Components of the Total Water
Balance of an Urban Catchment, Environmental Management Vol 32 (6) pp 735-
746.
1.3 Software
1.3.1 Overview
Aquacycle is designed to run in a Windows environment. The software is written in MS
Visual Basic (version 6.0).
Inputs to the program include:
• Climate data
• Indoor water usage rates
• Usage of alternative water sources, such as:
• Raintank water
• Greywater
• Stormwater
• Wastewater
• Catchment land cover areas and water system characteristics
• Initial storage levels
• Calibration parameters
Aquacycle outputs include daily, monthly, and annual estimates of water demand,
stormwater yield, wastewater yield, evaporation, imported water use, stormwater use, and
wastewater use, as well as performance measures of any water management strategies
selected.
1.3.2 Audience
Aquacycle is designed for urban stormwater engineers, planners, policy staff and managers
in consultancies and state, regional and local government agencies.
1.3.3 Limitations
Aquacycle should not be used without the user gaining a clear understanding of the
underlying modelling algorithms and associated assumptions that underpin the model. See
Section 7 for details as to assumptions and cautions related to the use of Aquacycle. Section
5 provides information on the modelling algorithms and associated assumptions.
1.3.4 Changes in comparison to the beta version

No changes made to the input data file structure so you can still load the input files
previously used with the beta. Although, it is important to note that the units of the rainwater
tank first flush have been changed from a millimetre depth to litres. To convert the first flush
input value into litre units, multiply the mm depth value by the value of the associate roof
area in m2.
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Introduction
The default file extension names have been altered, although the model will load files
regardless of its extension. Just click on the down arrow in the file type list box and select the
All Files option.
The name of the input data file directory has been changed from “Aquacycle/Input” to
“Aquacycle/Data”.
Bugs Fixed
• The bug associated with public open space areas being reduced when a cluster
stormwater and wastewater stores has an exposed surface area has been corrected.
• Minor errors in the results screen graphs have been corrected.
• Aquacycle should no longer crash if an output file is already open (and so can’t be
overwritten). Instead it informs the user of the problem and doesn’t write the output
files. The results of the simulation run can still be viewed in the results screen though.
• Aquacycle is no longer rounding occupancy to an integer for occupancies less than 7,
so water usage will reflect the occupancy as input rather than as a rate rounded to the
nearest whole person. Linear interpolation is used to calculate the water usage rates
for a household when the occupancy is a non-integer value equal to less than 7.
• If an overflow error occurs in the code, usually triggered by dividing something by
zero, the model should no longer crash but instead inform the user there was a
general error – it is very hard to provide more specific diagnostics for these types of
errors.
• The error associated with saving of group files in the interface has been removed.
Enhancements
• The equivalent population function has been disabled – it was more confusing than
anything else. If non-residential water usage is to be represented it now should be
done explicitly via a separate “non-residential” cluster. This means all imported water
usage has an associated land area. The modeller must assign an “occupancy” which
results in the correct amount of water being used indoors within the non-residential
unit blocks.
• Can now unload all current input values and files.
• Are now able to create, edit and save the water profile file within the interface.
• Now able to load and run up to 100 years of climate.
• Rainwater tank first flush in now directed to unit block stormwater runoff rather than
the wastewater system as was in the beta version.
• Areas don’t have to be as accurate as previously. The tolerance has been eased so it
runs without comment if the areas are within 1% and asked f the user want s to run
even though the results could be a bit incorrect if the areas are 1-5% out.
• The user can specify where results files are written to in the main screen, which no
longer must be the default results directory created when the software is installed. But
the input files still must be located in a specified directory called “Data”. The root of
this directory still must be where the Aquacycle program (Aquacycle.exe) has been
installed and is automatically created when the software is installed.
• An error message has been added about potentially not having creating a results
directory for the output files to be written to.
• Headers defining the items in the output files expanded to clarify their meaning. Also
more explicit about the units of the values, particularly if it is per household or for the
whole cluster.
3
• Volumes (as opposed to mm depths) in the annual output files can be either kL/y or
ML/y. The default is kL/y within the main screen.
• Amount of evaporation from water stores has been added to output files.
• Average annual results values have been added to the tables in the results screen and
the annual output files.
1.4 Data requirements
1.4.1 Input data

There are a total of six input files used to run Aquacycle. These six files are listed in the
Table 1-1 below.
Table 1-1: Input Data Files
Input File Type File Suffix

Indoor water usage profile .wpf
Climate data .clm
Unit block .ubl
Cluster .clu
Catchment .cmt
Parameter & initial values .prm
The climate data file must to be created outside the Aquacycle program using a text editor.
All other input data files can be created within Aquacycle and saved for later use or created
using a text editor.
Details on how to create the climate data file, as well as the five other input files, are given
the technical reference documentation in Appendix C.
These input data files can be loaded as a group using a group file (*.gro).
1.4.2 Output data

There are a total of eleven groups of output file that can be output from Aquacycle. These
eleven groups are listed in Table 1-2 below (where n is the cluster number).
4
Introduction
Table 1-2: Output Files
Output File Group File Name

1. Catchment balance output file CatchmentDailyBal.csv
2. Cluster daily water balance output file ClusterDailyBaln.csv
3. Unit block daily water balance output file UnitBlockDailyBaln.csv
4. Catchment monthly output file CatchmentMthly.csv
5. Cluster monthly output file ClusterMthlyn.csv
6. Catchment annual output file CatchmentYearly.csv
7. Cluster annual output file ClusterYearlyn.csv
8. Catchment component water use output CatchmentWaterDemand.csv
9. Cluster component water use output file ClusterWaterDemandn.csv
10. Simulation output file SimCat.csv
11. Optimisation output file optrec.csv
Output file types 1 to 7 are only produced by Aquacycle in response to user specification.
This is done by checking one or more of the “Write Output to File” check boxes in the
program. Output can be specified as daily, monthly or yearly time-step files. The simulation
results are written to comma separated variable (*.csv) files, stored in the Results sub-
directory. To change the Results sub-directory, use the text box at the bottom of Aquacycle’s
main screen.
Note Simulation runs will over-write the output files already stored in the
selected results directory (i.e. from a previous run). To prevent this from
happening, either uncheck the relevant check box, or better still, copy
the output files of interest to another location for safe-keeping.
Output file types 8 to10 are produced by Aquacycle automatically during each simulation
run. These files are automatically over-written during each simulation run so must be moved
or copied to another directory to be protected from being over-written.
Output file type 11 is only produced by Aquacycle when the optimisation function is used
(see Section 3.5).
The contents of each of the eleven groups of output files are detailed in the Technical
Reference (Appendix C of this user manual).
Simulation results can also be printed from the Results screen. See Section 4.3.4.
5
2 Installation
2.1 Technical specifications
The minimum specifications required to run Aquacycle are:
Table 2-3: Technical specifications required to run Aquacycle
Type of machine Intel based PC with CD-ROM drive

Minimum CPU Pentium I processor or greater
Minimum memory 64MB
Minimum available disk space 100MB for installation and simulation results
Operating system A CD drive is recommended
Windows 2000 + Service Pack 4, or Windows XP + Service Pack
1, or Windows NT4 + Service Pack 6a
Other supporting software None
The person installing the software must have local administrator access on the computer.
Ideally, you should also have the relevant permissions to install and uninstall software.
Note If you are using a networked computer, then inform your system
administrator BEFORE applying any service packs or updates, as there
may be other applications on your computer that could be affected by
these updates.
2.2 Licence agreement

A licence agreement is part of the installation procedure. You must acknowledge that you
have read, understood and agree to be bound by the Aquacycle software licence agreement
to be able to proceed with the installation.
6
Installation
2.3 Installation
Installation of Aquacycle is performed through use of the setup application, either by directly
running SETUP.EXE through Windows Explorer, through the RUN option under the Windows
Start menu, or from the Add/Remove Programs option in the Control Panel. The program
can be "uninstalled", or removed, through the Add/Remove Programs option in the Control
Panel.
The software should be installed in a directory called Aquacycle.
Two sub-directories (of the directory where the software has been installed) called Results and
Data must exist to run the program.
2.3.1 Data
Sample input files are also provided and are listed below. These sample files should be
stored in the Data sub-directory.
Sample input files:
tutor.gro
tutor.ubl
tutor.clu
tutor.cmt
tutor.prm
tutor.clm
tutor.wpf
2.3.2 Auto-update feature

Aquacycle does not currently have an auto-update feature.
7
3 Aquacycle Tutorial
This tutorial is written as a ‘hands-on’ introduction to Aquacycle, in order to facilitate a rapid
understanding of how to use the software. It is recommended that the first page of the
General Description section (Section 5.1) is read before this tutorial is begun, to familiarise
yourself with the conceptual model on which this software is based.
3.1 Getting started
3.1.1 Installing Aquacycle

To install Aquacycle, follow the instructions given in Section 2.3 of this manual.
3.1.2 Starting Aquacycle

To start the program, double click on the Aquacycle icon.
A splash screen will briefly appear to introduce Aquacycle, then the main screen will appear.
The main screen is where you load the required input data files, run a simulation, access
other screens of Aquacycle, and exit the software.
3.1.3 Loading input data files

Load the tutorial input data files as a group by clicking on the Load Group button or
selecting the “Load Group” item in the File > Load menu. An open file box will appear. Go
to the “Aquacyce\Data” directory and select the “Tutor.gro” file.
The climate file identifier appears and the simulation period bars are activated, as shown in
Figure 3-1.
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Aquacycle Tutorial
Figure 3-1: The main screen with tutorial files loaded
3.2 The tutorial scenario inputs

The scenario is based on a catchment in the suburb of Mawson in the city of Canberra. The
characteristics of this scenario will now be demonstrated by inspecting the input files.
To view the input data that has just been loaded, go to the “Edit” menu and select one of the
items. Start with the indoor water usage profile.
• Indoor water usage profile
An input edit screen appears. Quantities are given in L/day.
Here we see that, for example, a three-occupant dwelling in the study area uses 64
L/day in the kitchen. We also see that 60% of kitchen water is hot.
To edit the values, click on the box or slide the tab as appropriate.
Note Only numerals and decimal points are accepted as input. For yes/no
input, use 1 for yes and 0 for no.
• Measured parameters
Go to Edit > Measured Parameters
Notice the “Number of Clusters” box (top left). In Aquacycle, a catchment is divided
up into multiple “clusters”, with different attributes.
Clusters can be broken up still further into unit blocks. Unit blocks represent single
properties (households, industrial sites, institutions or commercial operations).
The tutorial catchment has 2 clusters. The two clusters have 10 and 15 unit blocks,
respectively. They differ in most parameters, including average occupancy, area, and
water sources (see Figure 3-2).
The number of clusters can be altered, but extra information is required.
9
Figure 3-2: The Measured Parameters input edit screen.
• Calibration Parameters
Displays parameters relating to the calibration parameters used in the water balance
equations for each cluster (the blue capitals in Figure 5-8).
These parameters are generally calibrated to fit known results (see Section 8). The
calibration parameters used in the tutorial example provide a reasonable fit to
observed catchment behaviour for the location of this scenario.
• Initial Storage Levels
Displays parameters relating to various water stores, including tanks, wastewater
storages, stormwater storages and aquifer storage and recovery facilities.
• Unit Block
Displays parameters relating to water management within unit blocks (e.g. within
households). These parameters show that Cluster 1 has implemented alternative
water management practices, such as rain tanks and sourcing toilet and irrigation
water from Cluster 2.
To view all the data, use the scroll bar on the right side of screen.
• Cluster
Displays further parameters relating to water management in each cluster.
• Catchment
Displays parameters relating to catchment-wide stores and the total catchment area.
To save any edits, use the File > Save command.
For more information on creating and loading input files, see Sections 4.2.1 or Appendix C.
For more information on parameter definitions, see Section 6.
Press OK to return to the main screen.
Note The following are all sourced from and saved to the same input file
(tutor.prm): measured parameters, calibrated parameters and initial
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Aquacycle Tutorial
storage levels. Therefore, loading a new *.prm file in any one of these
screens will load values from this file in to the other two screens,
overwriting the contents in the grids of all three screens
3.3 Running the simulation

First, select the period of simulation using the slide bars on the main screen. For this tutorial,
choose the entire available period (1980 – 1989). The maximum available period depends
on the climate input file.
Run the simulation by clicking the button at the bottom left of the screen.
The input data values will automatically be checked. If you have entered an incompatible
value, a warning box will appear.
3.4 Viewing the results of a simulation

View the results through the View > Results menu item.
First, choose a spatial scale (catchment or cluster) by checking the radio buttons.
To display the graphs in Figure 3-3, go to View > Results > Graphed Results > Household
Water Sources. Pick the cluster scale, using the slide bar to toggle between clusters.
Notice that the use of alternative sources in cluster 1 has led to less use of reticulated water.
Figure 3-3: Household water sources at the cluster scale.
Note You may only view the results from the latest simulation run.
To display the tables in Figure 3-4, go to View > Results > Tabular Results > Water
Balance.
11
Notice that the last row, “Transfer of water”, is positive for cluster 1 and negative for cluster
2. This row indicates the movement of water due to use of cluster scale
wastewater/stormwater stores. Thus, the numbers indicate that water has flowed from Cluster
2 to be used in Cluster 1 (this was also indicated in the Unit Block input edit screen).
Figure 3-4: Annual water balance in clusters 1 and 2.
3.5 Optimising the size of a store

The size of a water store such as a rain tank or cluster scale wastewater store can be
optimised by Aquacycle according to criteria specified by the user. To demonstrate this
capability, we will now find the optimum size of a rain tank based on the tutorial scenario
inputs.
See Section 6.14 for more information on this process.
Go to Run > Optimisation. The screen shown in Figure 3-5 appears.
Figure 3-5: The optimising storage size screen
Pick “Unit block rain tank” and change the number of iterations to 15 and the % change to
99.
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Aquacycle Tutorial
The number of iterations specified determines how many times the model is run to search for
the storage size which meets your optimisation criteria.
The % rate of change in volumetric reliability serves as an optimisation criteria. See Section
6.14 for more details.
To start the procedure, click Optimise. It may take a few minutes.
When the 15 iterations are complete, the optimum size will be displayed and will also be
updated in the appropriate input file (see the unit block input edit screen).
To see which sizes of rainwater tank were checked and the output of the optimisation runs,
open the optrec.csv file that has been saved to the results directory specified in the Main
screen. Note that the values in this file are for the entire period of simulation, so for 10 year
in this case. The graph in Figure 3-6 has been created from this optrec.csv output file. See
Section 6.13 for the definition of volumetric reliability.
0.7
0.6
Volumetric reliability, ratio
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Rainwater tank capacity, kilolitres
Figure 3-6: The volumetric reliability of the different size rainwater tanks tested during the optimisation
3.6 Further reading

This tutorial does not cover the topics of parameter calibration and verification. For
information on these two subjects, please refer to the section of this user manual entitled
“Calibration and Verification of Parameters” (Section 8), which specifically addresses these
important topics.
For more information on any of the topics in this tutorial, please refer to the more extensive
sections of this user manual.
13
4 Using Aquacycle
4.1 Starting Aquacycle
To start Aquacycle, double click on the Aquacycle icon, which appears in the Aquacycle
folder.
A splash will briefly appear, introducing Aquacycle and then the main screen will appear.
The main screen is where you may load the required input data files, run a simulation, access
other screens of Aquacycle, or exit the software.
4.2 Managing input data
4.2.1 Loading input data files

To load input data files, either:
• Load each file individually using the File/Load menu in the main screen, or
• Load a group of files listed in a group file using the “Load Group” item of the
File/Load menu in the main screen.
4.2.2 Saving input data files

You can save the indoor water usage file, unit block input data file, cluster input data file,
catchment input data file, and parameter & initial storage input data file from the Input Edit
screen by selecting the File/Save menu item.
Note The values in the Calibration parameter, Measured parameter, and

Initial storage levels tables displayed in the Input Edit screen are all
saved to the same parameter file (*.prm).
14
Using Aquacycle
4.3 Program screens

The following sections provide an overview of the functions of each screen in the model.
4.3.1 Splash screen

The Splash screen introduces the program.
4.3.2 Main screen

The Main screen provides information on the site being simulated, including the identifier of
the climate file currently loaded and used in model simulation.
Navigation of the software is done through the Menu Options.
The period of simulation is set in the Main screen. The start and end year of a simulation
can be selected from the time period available in the climate file that has been loaded.
To change the number of clusters in the current simulation scenario, alter the number of
clusters using the scroll bar in the top right hand corner. The number of clusters can range
from 1 to 50 inclusive.
A simulation is run by selecting the Simulation item from the Run menu or clicking on the Run
button. A progress bar appears during a simulation run to provide a guide to the
progression of the simulation.
The program is exited by selecting the Exit item from the File menu or the Exit button.
The option of writing simulation results to comma separated variable (*.csv) files is available.
Results in daily, monthly, and annual time steps can be produced and are stored in the
Results sub-directory. Click on the appropriate check boxes in the bottom left hand corner of
the Main screen to generate the result files.
4.3.3 Input Edit screen

Input edit screen can be accessed through the Edit menu. There is an input edit screen for
each Aquacycle input file.
The Input Edit screen contains a gridded table of the current input data and a box labelled
“Number of Clusters” displaying the number of clusters in the current modelling scenario
(unless you have selected the Indoor Water Usage or Catchment screen where there is no
such box). If no input data files have been loaded, a default number of 1 cluster is used.
The blue text above the table states the type of input data displayed.
To change a value within the table, simply select the cell of interest (by either using the left-
click button of the mouse or the arrow keys) and type the new value into the cell. Note that
only numbers and decimal points are accepted as valid input by the table.
To change the number of clusters in the current simulation scenario, simply alter the value in
the text box labeled “Number of clusters” (in the top left hand corner). The number of
clusters can range from 1 to 50 inclusive.
The input data values for the different clusters can be viewed using the horizontal scroll bar
that runs along the bottom of the table.
Note The same indoor water profile is used for all clusters.
15
If there is a vertical scroll bar running along the right hand side of the table then there are
more input data items listed in the table than are currently in view. They can be viewed by
using the scroll down arrow.
A new input file may be loaded within the Input Edit screen by selecting the Load item in the
File menu. Note that if you are viewing either the Measured parameters, Calibrated
parameters, or Initial storage levels, loading an input parameter file will alter the input data
values in all three of these screens. This is because they source input data from in a
common parameter input data file (e.g.. tutor.prm).
If you have edited any values in the table and wish to save the new values to file, select the
Save item in the File menu. A standard Windows “Save As” dialogue box is displayed.
Clicking the Cancel button prevents any information being saved to file.
All values in the table can be cleared by selecting the Blank Table item in the Edit menu.
Once you have finished editing the particular input values either select the Main screen item
in the GoTo menu or click on the OK button to return to the main screen.
4.3.4 Viewing Results screen

In the Results screen you can view a range of simulation results by selecting items in the View
menu. Annual results are displayed in tables while monthly results are displayed in graphs.
Note that you may view the results from the latest simulation only and you cannot view this
screen without completing a simulation.
The results are reported at two spatial scales, cluster and catchment. You can toggle
between these two scales by clicking on the radio buttons displayed at the top right hand side
of the screen. If the cluster scale is selected, you can select which cluster results are
displayed using the slide bar that appears.
The contents of the Results screen can be printed to the default printer connected to the
computer (if there is one). The Print menu contains two options: ‘Screen’ and ‘Current
graph’. When the Screen option is selected, the whole Results screen as it currently appears
to the user is printed. When the Current graph option is selected, the graph currently
displayed in the Results screen is printed.
4.3.5 Simulation Performance screen

Within the Simulation Performance screen you may conduct a limited assessment of the
ability of Aquacycle to replicate observed water supply, stormwater, and wastewater flows for
the area being modelled. To do this you must have already created a Recorded file outside
of Aquacycle. The required format of this file is detailed in the Technical Reference in
Appendix C of this user manual.
Further information on the use of this screen can be found in the section entitled Calibration
and Verification of Parameters (Section 8).
Note The simulation performance screen assesses the performance of the

latest simulation only and you cannot view this screen without
completing a simulation.
16
General description of Aquacycle
5 General description of
Aquacycle
The following section contains a general description of the urban water cycle and the way in
which it is modelling by Aquacycle.
5.1 The urban water cycle

Two systems operate within the urban water cycle in a typical Australian city. They are i) the
rainfall-drainage system; and ii) the supply-wastewater system.
The rainfall-drainage system represents the land phase of the hydrological cycle, as modified
by urbanisation. The ‘naturally occurring’ processes of interception, depression storage, soil
infiltration, evaporation, interflow, soil drainage, and pervious surface runoff occur alongside
the ‘introduced’ processes of pipe infiltration and exfiltration, illegal stormwater inflow, and
imperious surface runoff. Inputs into the rainfall-drainage system are not derived solely from
rainfall, but also include contributions from the reticulated network through outdoor water
use. In addition the drainage network has been modified to include concrete channels,
culverts, and underground pipes.
Compared with the rainfall-drainage system, the supply-wastewater system is simple,
consisting of an artificial water conveyance system constructed to deliver water to urban
dwellers and remove the wastewater produced. The inputs to the system are imported water,
illegal stormwater inflow, and infiltration of soil moisture into the pipe network. Water leaves
this system as outdoor water use, sewer overflows, pipe exfiltration, and wastewater
discharge.
In order to conduct a comprehensive urban water balance, the rainfall-stormwater runoff
system and the potable supply-wastewater system need to be integrated into a single model
framework. These two networks are by no means independent, interacting to a varying
degree depending on the particular site and the season of the year.
Figure 5-7 illustrates the urban water cycle, combining the rainfall-stormwater runoff system
and the potable supply-wastewater system. The nominal boundary between the two systems
is signified by a dotted line in the diagram, with the interaction between the two systems
indicated by the flow paths that cross this dotted line.
17
precipitation imported water

evapotranspiration evaporation
outdoor
water use
leakage
Pervious surface runoff Impervious

- soil moisture store surface
indoor Key
water use
input
infiltration runoff
recharge inflow output
flow path
stormwater wastewater
base drainage sewer water
store
flow
Groundwater
Potable Supply-Wastewater
Urban Rainfall-Stormwater Runoff Network Disposal Network
Figure 5-7: Urban water system as represented by Aquacycle.
5.2 Modelling approach

A computer model, called Aquacycle, has been developed based on the concept of the water
balance of the urban water cycle. The primary function of Aquacycle is to allow what-if
scenario modelling of traditional and alternative urban water management schemes. As a
result, the purpose of the model is threefold:
1 To characterize the supply of urban stormwater and wastewater in terms of quantity
and temporal and spatial distribution;
2 To determine the demand criteria of the various urban water uses in terms of quantity
and temporal and spatial pattern; and
3 To provide a tool for assessing the performance of these alternative schemes.
The water balance approach used to develop Aquacycle accounts for the movement of water
through the rainfall-drainage system and the supply-wastewater system, as well as the cross-
links between the two.
Aquacycle integrates the water supply, stormwater drainage, and wastewater networks into a
single system and receives water input from precipitation and imported water. This water
passes through the system and is output in the form of evapotranspiration, stormwater, or
wastewater. Figure 5-7 represents the urban water management system on which the model
is based.
Because the factors which determine the quantity of stormwater and wastewater available
and the demand of water can vary significantly from location to location throughout
Australia, a user is expected to input information about the area being modelled. If the
requested information is not available, the user can make assumptions, and test the sensitivity
of results to these.
Aquacycle provides no prediction of water quality. Users are provided with a range of options
for stormwater and wastewater use that have been selected on the basis of water quality
requirements e.g. a user can select untreated greywater as a source for direct sub-surface
irrigation but not for drinking water.
18
In a typical urban water system, imported water is the sole source for meeting urban
demand. Aquacycle can “store” stormwater and wastewater and utilise it as a supply sources
for water applications according to the users specifications. Hence, the outputs of stormwater
and wastewater can be re-routed back into the urban water system as supply sources.
5.3 Model structure and key features

The structure of the computer program is illustrated in Figure 5-8, while the key features of
Aquacycle - temporal and spatial scales, input requirements, operations, water supply source
and management options, and model output are given in Table 5-4.
Indoor Unit block scale operations

water Indoor water consumption
Garden irrigation
usage
Aquacycle Stormwater runoff
Wastewater discharge
Climate daily urban On-site stormwater and
input water balance wastewater use
Output
model
Site Cluster scale operations
Road runoff
description daily Public open space irrigation and runoff
iterations for Inflow and infiltration
each cluster Leakage of imported water
Groundwater recharge and base flow
Community stormwater and wastewater use
Figure 5-8: The structure of the Aquacycle computer program.
19
Table 5-4: Key feature of Aquacycle
Item Description
Temporal scale Daily time step
Spatial scales Unit block, cluster and catchment
Surface types Irrigated pervious, unirrigated pervious, roof, paved and road
Input requirements Site description
Indoor water use profile
Daily precipitation and potential evaporation series
Model output Stormwater, wastewater, and imported water use.
Stormwater and wastewater yield
Evapotranspiration
Storage status
Performance of alternative supply sources.
Operations:
Unit block scale Indoor and outdoor water use
Stormwater runoff
Groundwater recharge
Wastewater recharge
Evapotranspiration from roof, paved and garden areas.
Unit block scale stormwater and wastewater use.
Cluster scale Stormwater runoff from road surfaces and public open space
Leakage of the reticulation system (imported water)
Inflow and infiltration of stormwater into the wastewater network.
Groundwater recharge, storage and base flow.
Evapotranspiration from road and public open space areas.
Cluster scale stormwater and wastewater use.
Catchment Scale Catchment scale stormwater and wastewater use
Alternative supply source
options:
Unit block scale Imported water
Rain tank
Direct sub-surface greywater irrigation
On-site wastewater treatment, storage and use.
Cluster scale Imported water.
Cluster scale stormwater storage and use.
Cluster scale wastewater treatment, storage and use.
Aquifer storage and recovery.
Catchment scale Imported water
Catchment scale stormwater storage
Catchment scale wastewater treatment, storage and use.
5.4 Conceptual representation of the urban water

cycle
The conceptual model used to represent the urban water cycle is shown in Figure 5-9.
Arrows represent interactions between different surfaces and storages. The main model
algorithms are listed below the figure.
20
STORAGE LEVELS MAIN MODEL ALGORITHMS

RST = roof surface storage level BF = BRC.GWS
PST = paved surface storage level Ea = A1.min{(PS1/PS1C).Epc, EP} + (100-
RDST = road surface storage level A1).min{(PS2/PS2C).Epc, Ep}
GWS = groundwater storage level Eimp = max(EP, RST).(roofarea/clusterarea) + max(EP,
INFS = infiltration storage level PST).(pavedarea/clusterarea) + max(EP,
PS1 = pervious store 1 level RDST).(roadarea/clusterarea)
PS2 = pervious store 2 level EXC = {max(PS1-PS1C, 0)}.A1 + {max(PS2-PS2C,
0)}.(100-A1)
INF = IRC. INFS
IR = max(TG.PS1c - PS1, 0).A1.%GI +
Note: max(TG.PS2c - PS2, 0).(100-A1).%GI
GREEN capitals indicate processes that IRUN = ERA.(P-(RIL+RST)).(roofarea/clusterarea)
are represented by algorithms + EPA.(P-(PIL+PST)).(pavedarea/clusterarea)
RED capitals indicate a measured + ERDA.(P-(RDIL+RDST)).(roadarea/clusterarea)
Parameter
BLUE Capitals represent a calibrated ISI = %I.(SRUN+IRUN)
Parameter IWU = I - IR – LD
LD = %L.(IR+IWU)/(100-%L)
Epc = 7mm NEAR = (100-ERA).(P-(RIL+RST)).(roofarea/clusterarea)
+ (100-EPA).(P-(PIL+PST)). (pavedarea/clusterarea)
+ (100-ERDA).(P-(RDIL+RDST)).
(roadarea/clusterarea)
GWR = BI.EXC
RIS = II.EXC
Rs = IRUN + SRUN - ISI + BF
Rw = IWU + INF+ ISI
SRUN = EXC - RIS – GWR
Figure 5-9: The conceptual representation of the urban water cycle
5.5 Spatial scale

There are many options for integrated water management. In order to be able to model a
wide variety of schemes, several spatial scales are used within Aquacycle. These are the unit
block, cluster, and the wider catchment scale. A cluster is made up of a number of unit
blocks and a catchment is made up of a number of clusters. The clusters contained within
the catchment may or may not have significantly different characteristics such as residential
density, land use, drainage patterns, and elevation.
21
5.5.1 Unit block scale

The unit block represents a single household, industrial site, institution, or commercial
operation, and is the smallest scale at which water management operations can be
managed. Modelling the unit block scale allows the cumulative effect of individuals’ actions
(i.e. stormwater and wastewater use at unit block scale) on the whole catchment to be
determined. Therefore, it is the appropriate fundamental spatial scale for the modelling
purpose.
At unit block scale, water use, wastewater yield, stormwater runoff, and groundwater
recharge processes are modelled. Information about the site, such as land use and water
demands, along with daily precipitation and potential evaporation data, are required as
input. The user has to specify the type of water management system operating on the site. It
may be a conventional water management arrangement or an alternative one such as a
rainwater tank or greywater reuse system.
Total water use is separated into indoor and irrigation components, and indoor use is further
dis-aggregated into its components: kitchen hot and cold water, bathroom hot and cold
water, laundry hot and cold water, and toilet (all cold water). The wastewater discharge
equals indoor water use and is separated into two components: greywater and blackwater.
The unit block is divided into roof, paved, and pervious surface moisture stores. A
continuous water balance of each of the stores is maintained. Actual evapotranspiration,
roof, paved, and pervious surface runoff, groundwater recharge, change in soil moisture,
and irrigation requirement are calculated for each day.
5.5.2 Cluster scale

A cluster is a group of unit blocks that forms a local neighbourhood or suburb. It may
consist of a conventional urban block delineated by roadways, or a node-like development
that combines dense housing with shared open space. It can contain a number of land uses
such as residential blocks, commercial precincts, public open space, and roads. The cluster
can be used within the model to represent the spatial scale at which community water
servicing operations are managed.
The cluster scale considers water servicing at a community management scale, and provides
the opportunity to investigate at the impact of alternate water management practices for a
neighbourhood. Unit block scale functions still occur when modelling at cluster and
catchment scale, but they occur within the unit block section of the model. A cluster contains
roads and public open space as well as unit blocks. Varying land use and garden watering
patterns are accounted for at the unit block scale within a cluster.
There are a number of processes that are simulated at cluster scale only: stormwater base
flow, leakage from the reticulation system, and stormwater inflow/infiltration into the
wastewater network. Unmetered water use, the exfiltration of stormwater and wastewater,
and wastewater overflows are not simulated by Aquacycle.
5.5.3 Catchment scale

A catchment is represented in the model as a group of clusters; these clusters may relate to
the suburbs in the catchment or areas of single land use. A representative (average) unit
block is used to represent the residential area within each cluster rather than modelling each
individual unit block. The values of the measured parameters associated with a unit block
within each cluster are taken to be the average for that cluster (e.g. the total roof area in the
cluster divided by the number of houses in the cluster). All other parameter values (measured
and calibrated) are unaffected by the use of a representative unit block rather than modelling
each individual unit block.
22
5.6 Using stormwater and wastewater

A range of small to medium scale technologies exist that have the potential to provide
individual or community scale water service systems (Clark, 1990). The common element of
all these technologies is the collection, storage, and subsequent distribution of the water.
The sources from which the water is collected and the locations to which it is then distributed
vary. Treatment may or may not be required depending on the water source and purpose for
which it is intended. Rather than attempt to simulate the operation of a large number of
different stormwater and wastewater utilisation schemes in detail, a smaller number of
generic methods can be modelled, representing the common elements of the different
schemes.
A number of stormwater and wastewater use methods have been selected to represent a
range of approaches to stormwater and wastewater utilisation and are listed in Table 5-5.
They relate to the different spatial scales at which water can be managed; all result in the
beneficial use of the stormwater or wastewater. Combining several of these schemes can
result in both stormwater and wastewater being used within a particular catchment, allowing
the maximum exploitation of these resources.
The only consideration of water quality relates to the selection of appropriate applications for
stormwater and wastewater. Potable reuse, as opposed to sub-potable reuse of stormwater
and wastewater, is discussed within the water industry (see Anderson (1995), Law (1997)).
However, it may well be a number of years before potable reuse is accepted (if ever) allowing
for such schemes to be installed in urban areas.
5.6.1 Preferences in supplying a demand from

multiple available sources
Note If there is more than one source selected to supply a particular demand
(e.g. both rain tank and on-site wastewater treatment unit) then there is
a set order in which these sources will be used to meet that demand
(see Table 5-6).
The rules used to determine the priorities for each demand are as follows:
1 Use the lowest quality water source available which meets the requirements of the
demand first
2 Supply indoor water demands before outdoor demands
3 Use the water sources within the unit block before cluster sources
4 Use cluster scale water sources before catchment scale water sources
5 Use all local sources of water before importing water (reticulated water)
6 If a particular potential source of water has not been selected by the user, then the
next highest priority source is used instead.
Table 5-5: Methods for stormwater and wastewater reuse available in Aquacycle
Scale Method Source(s) of water* Uses* Comments
All indoor and May have a first flush device. Can only
Unit Block Rain Tank Roof runoff outdoor unit supply the unit block that the rain tank is
block uses located within.
Distributes greywater directly to the
Sub-Surface Greywater flows:
Unit block garden through a sub-surface drainage
irrigation of kitchen, bathroom,
irrigation field according to the daily irrigation
greywater laundry, toilet
requirements.
23
Scale Method Source(s) of water* Uses* Comments
Can store treated effluent. Can only

On-site Wastewater flows: Unit block
supply the unit block that it is located
wastewater kitchen, bathroom, toilet flushing.
within. Option of disposing of effluent to
treatment unit laundry, toilet. Irrigation.
stormwater or wastewater system.
Unit block runoff.
May divert a first flush to wastewater
Road runoff. Public Unit block
Stormwater system. Any unit block or cluster can be
open space runoff. toilet flushing.
store supplied by any cluster stormwater store
Stormwater from other Irrigation.
in catchment.
clusters.
Any unit block or cluster can be supplied
Wastewater Unit block wastewater. Unit block by any cluster wastewater store in
Cluster treatment and Wastewater from other toilet flushing. catchment. Option of disposing of
storage clusters(s). Irrigation. effluent to stormwater or wastewater
system.
Unit block runoff.
Aquifer Road runoff. Public Unit block Recharge and recovery is limited by rate
storage and open space runoff. toilet flushing. at which water can be injected and
recovery Stormwater from other Irrigation. pumped.
cluster(s).
Unit block May divert a first flush. Any unit block or
Stormwater Catchment stormwater
toilet flushing. cluster can be supplied by catchment
store runoff
Irrigation. stormwater store.
Catchment Any unit block or cluster can be supplied
Wastewater Unit block
Catchment wastewater by catchment wastewater store. Option
treatment and toilet flushing.
discharge. of disposing of effluent to stormwater or
storage Irrigation.
wastewater system.
*Where more than one source or use is listed, any or all of the different sources/uses can be
selected by the user.
Table 5-6: Preferences in supplying a demand from multiple available sources
Water Supply Source Water Demand

Unit Block Cluster
Kitchen Bathroom Laundry Toilet Irrigation Public Open
Space Irrigation
Unit block direct sub-surface greywater

irrigation (kitchen and/or bathroom 1
and/or laundry)
Unit block treated wastewater 1 2
Unit block rain tank 1 1 1 2 3
Cluster wastewater store (located in

3 4 1
own cluster or another cluster)
Cluster stormwater store (located in

4* 5* 2*
own cluster or another cluster)
Aquifer storage and recovery (via

4 5 2
cluster stormwater store)
Catchment wastewater store 5 6 3
Catchment stormwater store 6 7 4
Reticulation 2** 2** 2** 7** 8 5
*Aquifer storage and recovery operates in conjunction with a cluster scale stormwater store
(see section on Aquifier storage and recovery).
**Reticulated water is automatically supplied to unit block indoor water demands if there is a
shortfall in supply from higher priority sources.
24
Model Operations
6 Model Operations
The following section describes the main operations of Aquacycle.
6.1 Calculation of stormwater flows

Stormwater runoff is usually separated into two components for modelling purposes, these
being surface runoff and base flow. Surface runoff from urban areas is further separated into
components sources from pervious and impervious surfaces due to the differing hydrological
response of these surface types. Impervious surfaces can be further divided up into roofs,
roads, and paved areas. Pervious surfaces include grassed areas such as lawns and parks as
well as garden beds and bare soil. Therefore, four surface types are used in the model; i)
pervious areas, ii) roofs, iii) paved areas, and iv) roads, with each surface generating runoff.
The total amount of water discharged as stormwater runoff, Rs, is given by the following
equation:
Rs = IRUN +SRUN +BF– ISI (1)
The algorithms used to calculate the contributions due to impervious surface runoff, IRUN,
pervious surface runoff, SRUN, and baseflow, BF, as well as the losses due inflow into the
wastewater system, ISI, are given below.
6.1.1 Impervious surface runoff

Impervious surfaces (roof, paved, and road areas) are each modelled as a single storage
runoff saturation excess process. The water retained in the store represents the initial losses
due to interception and depression storage.
The concept of effective impervious area is used to represent the proportion of impervious
surfaces that are directly connected to the stormwater drainage system. The remainder of the
impervious surfaces, which are not directly connected, drain onto adjacent pervious surfaces.
The proportion of impervious surfaces that are directly connected to the drainage system
varies greatly. In one survey of nine Australian urban catchments, Boyd et al. (1993) found
that the proportion of impervious area directly connected ranged from 31% to 100%.
The concept of effective impervious area has been used in several rainfall-runoff models,
such as ILLUDAS (Maidment, 1993), ILLSAX (O'Loughlin, 1991), STORM (Abbott, 1977;
Dendrou, 1982), and SWMM (Metcalf & Eddy Inc et al., 1971).
Runoff from the effective impervious area contributes to the total stormwater flow (IRUN)
while the amount that flows onto the adjacent previous surfaces (NEAR) is calculated
according to the following equations:
25
IRUN = ERA.(P-RIL+RST).(roofarea/clustarea)
+ EPA.(P-PIL+PST).(pavedarea/clustarea)
+ ERDA.(P-RDIL+RDST).(roadarea/clustarea) (2)
NEAR = (100-ERA).(P-RIL+RST).(roofarea/clustarea)
+ (100-EPA).(P-PIL+PST).(pavedarea/clustarea)
+ (100-ERDA).(P-RDIL+RDST).(roadarea/clustarea) (3)
6.1.2 Pervious surface runoff and baseflow

The structure of the pervious area surface stores and groundwater store is based on the
AWBM model (Boughton, 1993). The AWBM model is a partial area saturation overland
flow model. The use of partial areas is based on the division of a catchment into areas that
produce runoff (contributing areas) and those that do not during a rainfall-runoff event (van
de Griend, 1985). These contributing areas vary within a catchment according to the
antecedent catchment conditions, allowing for the spatial variability of surface storage in a
catchment. The use of the partial area saturation overland flow approach is simple and
provides a good representation of the physical processes occurring in most Australian
catchments. Daily infiltration capacity is rarely exceeded and the major source of runoff is
from saturated areas (Chiew et al., 1995).
The amount of excess soil moisture is calculated separately for the two pervious stores and
combined according to the proportional area of each store as given in the following
equation:
EXC = {max(P+PS1-PS1C, 0)}.A1 + {max(P+PS2-PS2C, 0)}.(100-A1) (4)
A user specified proportion of the excess soil moisture recharges the groundwater store. The
groundwater store is drained according to a recession function, creating base flow.
GWR = BI.EXC (5)
BF = BRC.GWS (6)
The amount of pervious surface runoff contributing to the total stormwater flow (SRUN) is
equal to the excess soil moisture less that which goes to infiltration and that which goes to
groundwater recharge.
SRUN = EXC - RIS - GWR (7)
6.1.3 Inflow and infiltration into the wastewater

system
Aquacycle assumes that stormwater infiltration into the wastewater system occurs during
periods of excess soil moisture storage. This water (RIS) enters a temporary infiltration store
that then drains into the wastewater system (INF).
RIS = II.EXC (8)
INF = IRC. INFS (9)
The inflow of stormwater into the wastewater system is represented as a proportion of the
total surface runoff generated.
ISI =%I.(SRUN+IRUN) (10)
26
Model Operations
6.1.4 The inclusion of irrigation

It can be seen in Figure 5-9 that irrigation is applied to the pervious stores as well as
precipitation. Water used for irrigation represents significant proportion of the total water
supplied to an urban area and greatly affects the antecedent soil moisture condition of an
urban catchment. Therefore it is necessary to include irrigation in the stormwater runoff
component of the urban water balance model.
The quantity of irrigation is a function a number of factors including the water requirements
of plants in the garden and the personal behaviour of the gardener. The water requirements
of plants in a garden is determined by prevailing climatic conditions, type of vegetation
contained in the garden, soil type, and the amount of area that is irrigated (Heeps, 1977;
Power et al., 1981). The personal behaviour of the gardener is affected by perceived plant
water need, desired garden condition, and response to cost of water. As a result, individual
watering practices are extremely variable.
Note that people respond to the weather in two ways; firstly, watering occurs after a lag
period following a rain event when the gardener perceives the garden is sufficiently dry to
require watering, and secondly, the gardener responds to the particular days weather with
cold, cloudy, overcast days not triggering a perceived need to water (Davis, 1992).
For the purpose of estimating irrigation, the garden irrigation requirement, IR, is defined here
as ‘the amount of irrigation required to supplement precipitation in order to maintain the
desired garden condition or growth rate’. The decision to water a garden can be formulated
as the minimum soil moisture storage level (or wetness) allowable, termed here as the trigger-
to-irrigate, TG. Therefore, the model irrigates the pervious area whenever the soil moisture
storage level drops below the trigger-to-irrigate.
If the soil moisture level in either of the two pervious stores drops below the user defined
‘trigger-to-irrigate’ level then irrigation is applied to make up the deficit.
IR = max(TG.PS1c - PS1, 0).A1.%GI
+ max(TG.PS2c - PS2, 0).(100-A1).%GI (11)
The user specifics the percentage of the total garden area and public open space area which
is irrigated; this determines the volume of water required to meet the irrigation demand.
Due to the form of the irrigation equation given above, frequent small irrigation applications
will occur rather than less frequent sizable irrigation applications that fully wet the soil profile
(which is more likely in a commercial irrigation situation). During extended periods with no
rainfall and moderate to high evaporative demand, a pattern of a constant daily irrigation
application can occur, representing a daily garden watering regime rather than a less
frequent and peakier garden watering demand. Therefore, it is not appropriate for
estimating peak daily irrigation demands, although it has been found to satisfactorily fitting
observed watering patterns at weekly or great time scales.
6.2 Calculating evapotranspiration

Water evaporates from both pervious and impervious surfaces. The algorithms used to
calculate the contributions from each surface type are given below.
6.2.1 Actual evapotranspiration from pervious areas

The approach used to calculate actual evapotranspiration is based on work of Denmead and
Shaw (1962). This approach assumes that the supply of water to a plant is a linear function
of available water in the root zone (Federer, 1979).
The maximum amount of evapotranspiration that can occur in a given day is termed Ep, the
potential evapotranspiration rate. Actual evapotranspiration is the amount which did actually
27
evapotranspire in that day, given the potential rate, the soil moisture content in the pervious
stores (pervious store level) and the capacity of the vegetative cover to transpire (Epc).
The representation of the evapotranspiration process is given in the equation below and
illustrated in Figure 6-10.
Ea = A1.min{(PS1/PS1c).Epc, Ep } + (100-A1).min{(PS2/PS2c).Epc, Ep}(12)
Note that actual evapotranspiration from each of the two pervious stores is calculated
separately, as can be seen in the above equation, where A1 is the proportion of the pervious
area covered by store 1 and (100-A1) is the proportion of the pervious area covered by store
2.
Actual Potential
evapotranspiration evapotranspiration
Capacity of vegetative
cover to transpire, Epc
Ep - potential on
day t
Ea - actual on
day t
Empty PS – pervious store Capacity, PSc

level on day t
soil moisture storage level
Figure 6-10: The calculation of pervious surface evapotranspiration
6.2.2 Evaporation from impervious surfaces

The impervious surface store is emptied by evaporation. Impervious surface evaporation is
calculated by the following equation:
Eimp = max(Ep, RST).(roofarea/clusterarea)
+ max(Ep, PST).(pavedarea/clusterarea)
+ max(Ep, RDST).(roadarea/clusterarea) (13)
6.3 Residential indoor water use

Despite the variation in residential indoor water use from household to household, a typical
pattern can be developed which provides a reasonable representation of household water
use. This typical pattern is based on the different indoor water use components, kitchen,
bathroom, laundry, and toilet. The resultant water use profile, can be constructed and used
to predict indoor water use. Table 6-7 presents an indoor water use profile for Canberra.
Table 6-7: Indoor water use (L/d) for Canberra, 2003 with no demand management
No. of Kitchen Bathroom Toilet Laundry

occupants
1 31 99 51 90
2 50 161 94 148
28
Model Operations
No. of Kitchen Bathroom Toilet Laundry

occupants
3 64 218 163 194
4 74 258 204 237
5 79 284 234 264
6 95 322 268 298
7 111 359 301 332
Given the household occupancy, the indoor water use profile in provided as input data and
used to determine IWU, indoor water use, for each cluster in the modelled area. For
example, IWU for a house occupied by 4 people would be 773 L/hh/d in this case.
What if the average occupancy is not a whole number?
If there is more than one household in a cluster, the average occupancy may not equal a
whole number but rather, say 2.7. If this is the case, then linear interpolated is used to
calculate the kitchen, bathroom, toilet and laundry water usage rates for the household.
So, for example, if the indoor water profile input specifies kitchen use of a two person
household is 50 L/d and kitchen water use of a three person household to be 64 L/d, then
Aquacyle will calculate the kitchen water usage of a 2.7 person household to be 54.2 L/d
[50 L/d + (64 L/d – 50 L/d) * (3 – 2.7) persons]. The same linear interpolation is carried out
by Aquacycle for bathroom, toilet and laundry water usage.
What if the average occupancy is greater than 7?
If the average occupancy is greater than 7, the 3 person household water use is used to
calculate each component of household water use. So, a household occupancy of 14
persons would mean there was a kitchen water use of 298.7 L/d [64 L/d * (14 ÷ 3) persons].
In order to simulate the performance of residential rainwater tanks that supply water to the
hot water system (amongst other residential end uses), an estimation of the proportion of hot
water used in the kitchen, bathroom and laundry is required. Cox and Cartwright (1998)
found that in the Stringybark Grove townhouse development in Sydney, some 39% of the
water used indoors was hot water for the 12 month period starting September 1995, but they
do not provide details on the end uses splits. Koomey et al. (1994) provide details of the
split of hot and cold water for the various residential end uses in the USA. From this
information it is assumed that 60% of kitchen, 50% of bathroom and 25% of laundry water is
hot.
6.4 Leakage
Leakage from a reticulation system varies due to the care exercised in construction and its
age and condition. The condition of the reticulation system is affected by soil movement,
corrosive conditions, pipe material, workmanship, age, supply pressure, number of joints and
connections, and the occurrence of bursts/cracks due to overburden loading or water
hammer (Heeps, 1977). The leaked water either recharges the groundwater, drains away via
the wastewater and stormwater systems or is intercepted and used by vegetation (Foster,
1994).
Leakage of the reticulation system is assumed to be proportional to the bulk water use (IR +
IWU) of an area. Leakage is calculated by the following equation:.
LD =%L.(IR+IWU)/(100-%L) (15)
29
6.5 Imported water

The amount of water imported into an area is the sum of indoor water use, irrigation, and
leakage:
I = IWU + IR + LD (16)
6.6 Wastewater discharge

The amount of wastewater discharged form an area is the sum of indoor water use,
infiltration, and inflow:
Rw = IWU + INF + ISI (17)
6.7 Impervious surface storage

The storage level of the impervious surface store (RST, PST, and RDST) determines the
antecedent condition of the surface at the beginning of a rain event and therefore the initial
loss for each impervious surface type.
For roof surfaces the store level is calculated as:
RSTt = RSTt-1 + P – Eimproof – IRUNroof – NEARroof (18)
where Eimp is the evaporation, IRUN is effective area runoff, and NEAR is the non-
roof roof roof
effective area runoff for the roof surface. RST t-1 is the storage level of the previous day. The
store level for the paved and road surfaces in calculated in the same way.
6.8 Pervious surface storage

For pervious store 1 (PS1) the store level is calculated as:
PS1t = PS1 t-1 + P +IR +NEAR – EaPS1 –EXCPS1 (19)
where Ea is the actual evapotranspiration and EXC is the excess soil moisture for pervious
PS1 PS1
store 1. PS1 t-1 is the storage level of the previous day. The store level for pervious store 2 is
calculated in the same way.
6.9 Groundwater storage

The groundwater store level is calculated as:
GWSt = GWSt-1 + GWR +LD - BF (20)
where GWSt-1 is the storage level of the pervious day.
6.10 Stormwater store operation

All stormwater stores, from unit block rain tanks to catchment stores, can be represented as
simple tanks or reservoirs. The water surface within a stormwater store can be assumed to
30
Model Operations
remain horizontal due to the relatively small size of it. Therefore, the volume held within the
store would be directly related to the elevation of the free surface. Overflow equals the
volume of inflow which exceeds the available storage of the store. All water held within the
storage can be assumed to be available for use, i.e. the active storage equals the storage
capacity. The operation of the stormwater store can be represented by the water balance
equation1:
St = St-1 + Insw - ff - Csw - Osw - Ep + P (21)
where St is the stormwater storage volume at the end of the current time step, Insw is the inflow
of stormwater runoff, ff is the first flush of stormwater diverted from the inflow, Csw is the
volume of stormwater taken from the store for water consumption, Osw is the amount of
overflow, Ep is the evaporation from the stormwater store, P is the precipitation entering the
stormwater store, and St-1 is the storage volume at the end of the previous time step. Figure
6-11 illustrates the structure of this conceptual model of a stormwater store.
precipitation, P
stormwater inflow, Insw
first evaporation, Ep
flush, ff
overflow, Osw
storage
water
volume, St
consumption,
Csw
Figure 6-11: Structure of the stormwater store
The storage volume cannot exceed the storage capacity or drop below zero (empty storage)
at any time. The volume of water taken from the stormwater store for consumption is
dependent on the volume available in the store, once overflow and evaporation have been
removed.
Evaporation from an open water surface is assumed to occur at the potential rate, i.e. equal
to the area of uncovered open water surface multiplied by the potential evaporative demand
of the given day. The amount of precipitation falling directly into the surface of the
stormwater store also depends on the area of open water surface, if any.
6.10.1 First flush diversion

The first flush of runoff generated from a small impervious surface such as a roof may
contain higher concentrations of pollutants than the rest of the flow; this first flush may or
may not be of sufficient quality to be used for the purpose selected (Duncan and Wigth,
1991). Stormwater runoff from larger areas, such as an urban catchment, can also display a
pattern of initially higher concentrations of contaminants (Cordery, 1977).
In order to increase the overall quality of the runoff entering the tank an initial quantity of
runoff may be diverted from the inflow. Therefore, the option to divert the first flush of flow
away from a stormwater store (block scale rainwater tank, cluster scale stormwater store and
catchment scale stormwater store) into the stormwater system is available.
1
The subscript ‘sw’ in the symbols in Eq. 21 refer to the fact that all quantities relate to the
operation of a stormwater store rather than, for example, a wastewater store.
31
6.10.2 Rainwater tanks and effective roof area

When representing a rainwater tank it is important to be aware that the Effective Roof Area
input parameter determines the amount of the roof area that is collected by the guttering
system and subsequently enters a rainwater tank. The remainder of the roof runoff spills onto
the surrounding surfaces of the unit block. So, an input value of 100% for the Effective Roof
Area in a particular cluster represents a collection system where all the roof area is used to
harvest runoff directed into the tank. A 60% Effective Roof Area represents a collection system
harvesting runoff from 60% roofs area with the remaining 40% of the roof area spilling onto
the surrounding surfaces of the unit block.
There is no direct method to set the proportion of roof area that drains into the rainwater
tank due to the roof gutting configuration. The user may choice to use the Effective Roof
Area input parameter in-lieu of a parameter directly controlling the proportion of roof area
connected to rainwater tank. But the use of Effective Roof Area in this manner has the
potential to under-estimated the amount of runoff from the “un-connected” portion of the
roof which flows into the street scale stormwater system as half of the non-effective area roof
runoff is directed to the unit block garden and the other half is directed into the street scale
stormwater system.
The volume of first flush is extracted from the runoff form the Effective Roof Area only.
(Note that this is somewhat different from the beta version of Aquacycle where first flush was
treated as a depth of runoff relative to the whole roof area. So, 1 mm over a 100 m2 roof
was equivalent to 100 litres or 0.01 kL, while 1 mm over a 200 m2 roof was equivalent to
200 litres or 0.02 kL. So, larger roof area had resulted in larger amounts of water diverted
via first flush even if the sum of roof area * effective area was equal. This no longer occurs as
first flush is specified as a fixed volume regardless of the roof area and effective roof area
input values.)
6.11 Wastewater treatment and storage operation

Compared to stormwater runoff (which is intermittent), the discharge of wastewater is
constant. Wastewater treatment units usually operate on the basis of inflow displacing water
within the plant, creating outflow. It can be assumed, at a daily scale, that there is no lag
between inflow and the consequent outflow, hence, a continuous flow of effluent leaves a
treatment unit. This effluent flow may either be stored for latter use or disposed of.
Since it is assumed that the wastewater treatment process causes no lag in the flow, only the
storage of the wastewater effluent requires modelling. The operation of the wastewater store
(Figure 6-12) can be represented by the water balance equation2:
Wt = Wt-1 + Inww - Cww - Oww - Ep + P (22)
where Wt is the wastewater storage volume at the end of the current time step, Inww is the
inflow of wastewater into the store in the current time step, Cww is the volume of wastewater
extracted from the store for water consumption in the current time step, Oww is the wastewater
overflow volume in the current time step, Ep is the evaporation from the wastewater store in
the current time step, P is the precipitation entering the wastewater store in the current time
step, and Wt-1 is the wastewater storage level at the end of the previous time step.
2
The subscript “ww” in the symbols in Eq. 22 refers to the fact that these quantities relate to the
operation of a store associated with an aquifer rather than, for example, a stormwater store.
32
Model Operations
precipitation, P
wastewater treatment evaporation, Ep

inflow, Inww unit overflow to
disposal, Oww
storage volume,
water Www
consumption, Cww
Figure 6-12: Structure of the wastewater treatment and storage unit
6.12 Aquifer storage and recovery operation

Artificial recharge of an aquifer is the process by which human action is responsible for the
transfer of surface water to the groundwater system (Digney and Gillies, 1995). This is done
to: i) increase the yield of a aquifer that is already exploited, or ii) take advantage of its
natural storage capacity instead of relying on surface storage. Aquifer storage and recovery
is the process of storage of water in an aquifer for later withdrawal and use.
The aquifer is assumed to have a fixed storage capacity, with all recharge water retrievable at
a later time. An aquifer has a finite maximum rate at which it can accept water through an
injection well (Pavelic et al., 1992); this rate is a function of the hydraulic gradient, aquifer
permeability, and length and type of screen in the injection well (Oaksford, 1985). The
maximum rate of retrieval of the injected water, through pumping, is also finite.
The use of a temporary surface store would lessen the problem of limits on the rate at which
water can be transferred into or out of the aquifer.
The operation of the aquifer storage and recovery system can be represented by the following
water balance equations, with Equation 233 relating to the surface section of the system and
Equation 24 relating to the sub-surface section of the system (as shown in Figure 6-13):
ASt = ASt-1 + Ina -Ij + R - Ca - Oa –E + P (23)
At = At-1 + Ij- R (24)
where ASt is the surface storage volume at the end of the current time step, At is the aquifer
storage volume at the end of the current time step, Ina is the supply of water for recharge in
the current time step, Ca is the volume of water taken from the surface store for water
consumption in the current time step, Oa is the surface store overflow in the current time step,
Ij is the volume of water injected into the aquifer in the current time step, R is the volume of
water recovered from the aquifer in the current time step, E is the evaporation from the
surface store in the current time step, P is the precipitation entering the surface store in the
current time step, ASt-1 is the surface storage volume at the end of the previous time step, and
At-1 is the aquifer storage volume at the end of the previous time step.
The recharge of the aquifer is limited by the maximum rate of recharge and the availability of
the aquifer storage, while the recovery of water from the aquifer is limited by the maximum
rate of recovery and the availability of water in the aquifer. Since the aquifer is an
underground store, there is no loss due to evaporation or storage gain through incident
precipitation. There is also assumed to be no deep seepage from the aquifer.
3
The subscript ‘a’ in the symbols in Equation 23 refers to the fact that these quantities relate to the
operation of store associated with an aquifer rather than, for example, a wastewater store.
33
precipitation, P surface section

water supply, Ina evaporation, E
overflow, Oa
water demand, Ca surface store, ASt
sub-surface
recovery, Ra
section
sub-surface section
recharge, Ij
Aquifer storage, At
Figure 6-13: Aquifer storage and recovery system structure
Aquacycle uses the cluster stormwater store as the surface store. Water held in the cluster
stormwater store above the 50% capacity mark is injected into the sub-surface store, subject
to available sub-surface storage capacity. When the cluster stormwater store falls below 50%
capacity water is recovered from the sub-surface store until the 50% capacity mark is
reached.
6.13 Assessing performance of a reuse scheme

Aquacycle uses several measures of performance; event reliability, volumetric reliability, and
utilisation ratio.
In the case of event reliability, an inability to provide anything but all of the demand in a time
step is considered a failure, reducing the storage’s overall event reliability. In comparison,
volumetric reliability relates to the proportion of the demand which was able to be supplied,
reflecting the severity of the shortfall in terms of quantity. Event reliability is a stricter measure
than volumetric reliability when demand is fairly constant. But, when the demand is highly
variable, volumetric reliability is a stricter measure of performance.
Event reliability, Re, as a percentage, is defined as:
Re =100.(1 - p/N) (25)
where p is the number of event failures in the total simulation period and N is the total
number of time steps in the simulation period. An event failure occurs when the reuse
scheme is unable to supply the total demand for water in a given time step.
Volumetric reliability, Rv, as a percentage, is defined as:
Rv = 100.Sv/Dv (26)
where Sv is the total volume supplied and Dv is the volume demanded in the simulation
period. Volumetric reliability measures the severity of failure to supply water demanded.
When the demand for water exceeds the supply from a particular source a more useful
measure of performance is the utilisation rate, Ur. The utilisation rate, Ur, as a percentage,
is defined as:
Ur = 100.u/Sv (27)
where u is the amount of water used during the simulation period.
When the demand for water exceeds the supply from a particular source, the maximum value
of volumetric reliability is set by the amount of water available whereas the maximum value
of the utilisation rate is 100 % (full use of the supply). This situation is illustrated in Figure
6-14, were the performance of a household rain tank system is presented. The house is
34
Model Operations
located in Woden Valley, Canberra, has a roof area of 150 m2 and is occupied by four
people. Tank water is used for all indoor purposes except toilet flushing.
100
80
percentage
60
40
Event reliability
Volumetric reliability
20
Utilisation rate
0
0 5 10 15 20
rain tank volume, kilolitres
Figure 6-14: Performance measures for a household rain tank system located in Woden Valley, Canberra.
6.14 Optimising the size of a storage

The size of a water storage can be optimised according to user specified criteria based on
the measure of volumetric reliability (defined above).
The optimisation criteria is ‘% rate of change in volumetric reliability’, which aims to find the
point at which the further gain (or loss) in volumetric reliability does not justify the associated
increasing (or decreasing) in storage size. It is analogous to the concept of diminishing
returns and can be visualised as the slope of the volumetric reliability curve like the one
shown in Figure 6-14.
A 1% rate of change in volumetric reliability occurs when a 100% increase in storage size
results in a 1% increase in volumetric reliability or a 100% decrease in storage size results in
a 1% decrease in volumetric reliability.
At the other end of the spectrum, a 100% rate of change in volumetric reliability occurs when
a 1% increase in storage size results in a 1% increase in volumetric reliability or a 1%
decrease in storage size results in a 1% decrease in volumetric reliability.
Rate of change can be significantly greater than 100% although this value is the upper limit
in the range of values the user can select as the optimisation criteria.
6.15 Transfer of water between clusters

Stormwater and wastewater can be transferred between clusters for reuse. When water from
Cluster 2 is used in Cluster 1 this is considered a transfer of water out of Cluster 2 and into
Cluster 1. It is not a flow due to stormwater or wastewater drainage, it is a flow due to the
reuse of stormwater or wastewater.
35
A positive value for the “Transfer of water” indicates the amount of water sourced from
another cluster (or multiply clusters) for reuse. Conversely, negative value for the “Transfer of
water” indicates the amount of water sourced by another cluster (or multiply clusters) for
reuse. A positive value indicates a net transfer into the cluster and a negative value indicates
a net transfer out of the cluster.
36
Modelling Assumptions and Cautions
7 Modelling
Assumptions and
Cautions
7.1 Aquacycle assumptions
A series of assumptions are made within Aquacycle; these are given below.
• The input and output of water occurs in a set order each day. Precipitation is added
to and actual evaporation is removed from the two soil moisture stores simultaneously
at the beginning of the day. Any moisture in excess of the soil storage capacity is then
separated into surface runoff, groundwater recharge, and infiltration into the
wastewater system. The irrigation demand is calculated and is applied at the end of
the day.
• Only one wetting and drying cycle occurs within a day. In reality, there may be
multiple wetting and drying cycles, due to multiple rain events occurring within the
day.
• It is assumed that effect of wind turbulence due to increased surface roughness,
sheltering by buildings, and other microclimate variations due to urbanisation, does
not have a significant impact on the accuracy of the method used to calculate actual
evapotranspiration from pervious areas and evaporation from impervious areas.
There is little known about the actual difference between urban and non-urban
evapotranspiration.
• Actual evapotranspiration of pervious areas varies depending on the soil moisture
storage at the beginning of the day, and the evaporative demand estimated by
potential evapotranspiration as supplied in the climate input file. This accords with the
approach of Boughton (1966) (a simplified Denmead and Shaw (1962) relationship)
given in Equation 12.
• The maximum rate of evaporation from the impervious surface is assumed to be given
by potential evapotranspiration as supplied in the climate input file. No allowance is
made for the effect that the heating of impervious surfaces has on the actual
evaporation rate. Evaporation is removed from the impervious surface store at the
end of the day (effectively after the rain event).
37
• Precipitation is spread evenly over the entire area with no variation due to wind
turbulence and localised storms.
• Precipitation and irrigation wet the entire root zone to a constant level. This assumes
the moisture is instantaneously distributed throughout the root zone when, in reality, a
wetting front forms and the soil is slow to reach a constant soil moisture level
throughout.
• Surface ponding and overland flow do not occur until the soil moisture storage
capacity of the partial representative area is exceeded. This may over-estimate the
ability of precipitation and irrigation to wet the soil profile and underestimate runoff in
intense rainfall events when infiltration capacity of the soil profile is exceeded.
• The maximum initial loss from an impervious surface and the effective impervious
area is assumed to be a fixed constant throughout the rain event and for all seasons
during the year.
• Non-effective area paved area runoff spills onto the pervious area within the same
unit block.
• When there is a pervious area (garden) within the unit block, half of the non-effective
area roof area runoff spills onto the pervious area within the same unit block while the
other half flows into the cluster scale stormwater system. When there is no pervious
area within the unit block, the entire non-effective area roof flows into the cluster scale
stormwater system.
• Any road runoff from unconnected areas (non-effective area) spills onto the whole of
the public open space area within the cluster.
• The component of runoff from unconnected impervious areas that flows onto a
pervious area is assumed to spread evenly across the entire adjacent pervious area
(therefore being added to both pervious stores in equal areal depths). In actuality, the
runoff would spill onto the edge of the adjacent pervious area and cause an increase
in the moisture content of a small area.
• If there is no pervious area adjacent to an impervious area, then the effective
impervious area is 100%. All of the impervious surface must be directly connected to
the stormwater system since there are no adjacent surfaces for the runoff to spill on to.
• There is no lateral movement of moisture in the soil profile. Therefore, there is no
transfer of moisture between the two pervious stores. In addition, all soil below
impervious surfaces is regarded as dry.
• The groundwater store is assumed to be an unconfined aquifer.
• Groundwater recharge spreads uniformly over the entire groundwater store below a
cluster; transmisivity is assumed to be infinite. Unless there is a large amount of water
recharging at a fixed point within the modelled area, the assumption that there is no
groundwater table gradient would have little impact on model accuracy. Any impact
on base flow estimation is not significant enough to warrant more sophisticated
modelling of the groundwater store.
• There is no deep seepage from the groundwater store. The only discharge from the
groundwater store is through base flow.
• Part of the water applied to a garden will be wasted, since, depending on the timing
of irrigation and the method used, part will evaporate before soaking into the soil or
not available to the plant roots. However, the model assumes irrigation to be fully
effective in recharging the soil moisture stores to the prescribed level with no wastage.
• All outdoor water use is due to irrigation of either gardens or public open space.
• All road area is 100% impervious.
• All public open space is 100% pervious.
• The average annual year is 365.25 days in length
38
Modelling Assumptions and Cautions
• The initial storage level in the soil moisture stores is the greater of 0.5 * capacity or
trigger-to-irrigate * capacity. It is calculated separately for gardens and open space
in each cluster.
7.2 Aquacycle cautions

There are a number of known weaknesses in the way Aquacycle represents the urban water
cycle that a user should be aware of:
7.2.1 Irrigation demand

When the irrigation demand is not fully met, the next day's irrigation demand is the sum of
the previous day's unsubstantiated irrigation demand and any additional irrigation demand
created on that next day. Therefore, there is a compounding irrigation demand until the soil
moisture storage returns to the trigger-to-irrigate level.
If there is unfulfilled irrigation demand, Aquacycle will overestimate the actual irrigation
demand and the statistics associated with storage performance will unreliable. It is
recommended that whenever the performance of stormwater and/or wastewater storage is
being evaluated which supplies an irrigation demand it be backed up by imported water.
Shortfalls on supply from a store should be taken to be the amount of imported water that
was required to back up the store.
7.2.2 Small storage size

The representation of stormwater stores such as a rainwater tank assumes that the inflow due
to runoff occurs before the outflow due to demand and that the demand is supplied before
there is spillage (yield-before-spillage). In an actual system, runoff will occur at any time
throughout the day, varying according to the weather. The demand for water from the store
will occur in blocks throughout a day, depending on the end uses the store is supplying.
When a store has a small capacity, in the order the average daily demand from the store or
less, the lack or representation of the timing of runoff inflow and outflow due to the end use
pattern may result in Aquacycle overestimating the usage if water from the store. Therefore,
the performance estimates of small stores such as rainwater tanks should be treated with
caution.
The issue of appropriate time step and computational method for small urban stores is
currently being researched at Monash University. Once the analysis in complete, the
outcomes will enable Aquacycle users to better interpret the predicted performance.
39
8 Calibration and
Verification of
Parameters
The calibration of Aquacycle is not straightforward, due to the three model outputs which are
to be fitted to observed values, the influence of a number of parameters on more than one
output, and the potential for there being different catchments for each of the three outputs.
This is unavoidable in a model that simultaneously estimates stormwater flows, wastewater
flows, and water consumption. As a result, an iterative approach to parameter calibration is
suggested (see discussion below).
Calibration of Aquacycle is a manual, trial and error process as the model does not have any
auto-calibration capabilities. Appropriate objective functions along with graphical plots
(hydrographs and X-Y plots comparing observed and simulated flows) can be used to
determine the ‘goodness-of-fit’ achieved by a particular parameter set.
Note It is recommended that the available observed data record is split into
two portions, one being used for calibration and the other for
verification (Klemes, 1986).
8.1 Objective functions to evaluate the parameter set

Two criteria for parameter selection are appropriate to this model: (i) a good replication of
the quantity and (ii) temporal pattern of flow or consumption.
SIM/REC, the sum of simulated flow, SIM, divided by the sum of recorded flow, REC, for a
given time period is an appropriate objective function for measuring the accuracy of the
quantity estimates produced by the model for a particular parameter set. Only days that
have concurrent simulated and recorded flow4 are used to calculate the sum.
The time step used for this objective function in Aquacycle, as reported in the Simulation
Performance screen, is annual.
4
In other words, days for which there is no recorded (observed) flow are not used to calculate the
sum
40
Calibration and Verification of Parameters
SIM/REC = 1 means that the estimated and observed quantity of flow over the time period
are equal, they do not necessarily have the same temporal pattern. To assess this, another
objective function is required. An objective function, commonly used to assess the replication
of the temporal flow pattern when calibrating hydrological models (Diskin and Simon, 1977;
Chiew, 1990; Chiew et al., 1993), has the form:
n
(SIMi - RECi )2 (28)
i =1
where SIMi and RECi are simulated and recorded flow respectively, of time period i, n is the
number of concurrent time periods in which there is a recorded and simulated flow in the
calibration period, and is the exponent used to weight the relative importance of errors in
high or low flows. The magnitude of this objective function is to be minimised, with a value
of zero meaning that the simulated series perfectly replicates the recorded series.
The most commonly used value of = 1, transforming Eqn 28 into the sum of squares of
differences objective function**5 (SDOF). This objective function places greater importance
on the accurate simulation of high flows at the expense of the low flow region (Chiew, 1990),
but the effect of this is balanced by the use of SIM/REC as an additional objective function.
8.2 Selecting an optimum parameter set

Aquacycle has 16 parameters whose value must be determined through calibration. Eleven
of these parameters relate to the simulation of stormwater flows, three to wastewater flows,
and two to water use (see Table 8-8). Some parameters influence more than one output
resulting in the need for an iterative approach to seeking an optimum parameter set.
Table 8-8: Aquacycle calibration parameter set
Output Calibration parameter Units Symbol Range

Stormwater Percentage area of store 1 % Al 0 – 100
Pervious storage 1 capacity Mm PS1c 0
Pervious storage 2 capacity Mm PS2c 0
Roof area maximum initial loss Mm RIL 0
Effective roof area % ERA 0 – 100
Paved area maximus initial loss Mm PIL 0
Effective paved area % EPA 0 – 100
Road area maximum initial loss Mm RDIL 0
Effective road area % ERDA 0 – 100
Base flow index Ratio BI 0–1
Base flow recession constant Ratio BRC 0–1
Wastewater Infiltration index Ratio II 0–1
Infiltration store recession constant Ratio IRC 0–1
% of surface runoff as inflow % %I 0 – 100
Water use Garden trigger to irrigate Ratio TG 0–1
Public open space trigger to irrigate Ratio POSTG 0–1
It is recommended that a series of steps are followed to obtain an optimum parameter set:
1 Initial estimates of calibration parameter values should be ascertained from local
knowledge and modelling experience. The parameters that relate to water use and
wastewater flows should be estimated and held constant. Fit the calibration
parameters to simulate stormwater flows (using the two objective functions SIM/REC
and the sum of squares of differences, SDOF).
5
Also known as the sum of squared deviations, ordinary least squares, or error sum of squares.
41
2 The parameters that relate directly to the simulation of wastewater should be adjusted
to improve the fit to the recorded wastewater flows (using the two objective functions
SIM/REC and the sum of squares of differences, SDOF). All other parameters should
be held constant.
3 The parameters that relate directly to the simulation of water use should be adjusted
to improve the fit to the estimated water use (using the two objective functions
SIM/REC and the sum of squares of differences, SDOF). All other parameters should
be held constant. At the end of this step, a complete set of initial parameters will
have been found.
4 Next, the stormwater parameters should now be altered to account for changes in the
initial estimates of the parameter values that relate to wastewater and water use.
Step 4 is effectively repeating step 1 above, starting a new loop in the iterative process. This
iterative process should continue until all three model outputs are fitted as well as possible.
The effect of any change in a parameter value should be assessed in terms of the impact on
all three outputs. If the new parameter value improved the fit of one of the outputs but has a
significant negative impact on one or two of the outputs the new value should not be used.
8.3 Verification of the parameter set for Aquacycle

An independent data set, which has been set aside specifically for parameter calibration
should be used to verify the parameter set selected during the calibration process.
A useful measure of model performance is the coefficient of efficiency, E, which expresses the
proportion of variance of the recorded flows that can be accounted for by the model (Nash
and Sutcliff, 1970; Wang et al., 1995). The coefficient of efficiency is defined as:
n n
( REC )
2
i REC ( RECi SIMi ) 2
i =1 i =1
E= n (29)
( REC )
2
i REC
i =1
where REC is the average value recorded in each time step for the period of interest, RECi
is the recorded value for the time step i and SIMi is the simulated value for that same time
step. A value of the coefficient of efficiency close to unity indicates that the model can
reproduce satisfactorily the recorded flows, while the coefficient of efficiency equal to unity
indicates that estimated flows for all time steps is equal to recorded flows. The coefficient of
efficiency can also take on a negative value, implying a poor model simulation (Chiew and
McMahon, 1993).
The coefficient of efficiency, along with SIM/REC, can be used to assess the performance of
Aquacycle. Table 8-9 provides a guide to interpreting the values of these objective functions.
Table 8-9: Measuring model performance (Source: Chiew and McMahon, 1993)
Objective Function
Adequacy of Performance SIM/REC Coefficient of Efficiency
Perfect 0.98 to 1.02 0.90
Acceptable 0.90 to 1.10 0.77
Accept with reservations - 0.60
The time step over which SIM/REC and the coefficient of efficiency is assessed affects the
resultant objective function value. Typically, the greater the time step, the less strict the test is
of model performance due to the smoothing of temporal differences between the observed
and simulated values.
42
Calibration and Verification of Parameters
8.4 Calibration and validation tools in Aquacycle

The Simulation Performance screen (see Figure 8-15) provides the user with tools to assess
the goodness-of-fit of the selected calibration parameters.
In order to use these tools, a data file containing observed daily stormwater and/or
wastewater and/or water use values must have been created. See the technical reference in
the Appendix for details on formatting this file.
The tools available to the user are:
1 calculation of annual SIM/REC
2 calculation of SDOF on a daily or weekly time step
3 calculation of the Coefficient of Efficiency, E, on a daily or weekly time step
4 in tabular form, or
5 X-Y plots of daily observed and simulated values.
If you wish to use other tools to assess the goodness-of-fit of the selected calibration
parameters, the simulation output file provides daily values of catchment surface flow, base
flow, total stormwater output, inflow and infiltration into the wastewater system, wastewater
outflow, total water use, and outdoor water use. This file is written to the Aquacycle/Results
file directory during a simulation. See the Appendix for further details.
Figure 8-15: The simulation performance screen of Aquacycle
8.5 Guidance on calibration parameter values

The following provides a guide to the calibration parameters that have been selected in a
number of projects that have utilised Aquacycle. They are provided to enable the user to
gain a sense for the range of values that have been used for the different parameters in
previous modelling exercises. The references to the quoted source should be followed up
and the user's judgement about the appropriateness of the parameters must be exercised.
43
Table 8-10: Aquacycle calibration parameter values for the Woden Valley catchments (Source: Mitchell et. al.,
2001)
Output Parameter Sub-catchments

Mawson Curtin & Woden
Stormwater Percentage area of store 1 42 22
Pervious storage 1 capacity 30 32
Pervious storage 2 capacity 130 240
Roof area initial loss 0 0
Effective roof area 100 100
Paved area initial loss 0 0
Effective paved area 100 100
Road area initial loss 0 0
Effective road area 100 100
Base flow index 0.55 0.55
Base flow recession constant 0.02 0.0025
Wastewater % of surface runoff as inflow 3 3
Infiltration index 0.095 0.095
Infiltration store recession constant 0.12 0.12
Water use Garden trigger-to-irrigate 0.50*,
0.50*,0.31**
0.31**
Public open space trigger-to-irrigate 0.46*,
0.46*,0.35**
0.35**
*Pre water usage education campaign **post water usage eduction campaign.
44
Abbreviations
Appendix A -
Abbreviations
%GI Average percentage garden area
%I Percentage of surface flow as inflow
%L Percentage of bulk water use which leaks
Exponent used to weight importance of high or low flows in the objective function
SDOF
A1 Percentage area of pervious store 1
ASt Aquifer surface store volume at the end of the current time step
ASt-1 Aquifer surface store volume at the end of the previous time step
At Aquifer store volume at the end of the current time step
At-1 Aquifer store volume at the end of the previous time step
BF Base flow
BI Base flow index
blockarea Average block size
blocknum Number of unit blocks in a cluster
BRC Base flow recession constant
Ca Consumption of water from the surface store associated with aquifer storage and
recovery
clustarea Cluster area
Csw Consumption of water from the stormwater store
Cww Consumption of water from the wastewater store
dv Deficit volume
Dv Volume demanded
E Coefficient of efficiency
e Number of event failures in the total time period N
Ea Actual evapotranspiration
Eimp Impervious surface evaporation
EP Equivalent population
45
Ep Potential evapotranspiration
EPA Effective paved area
Epc Plant controlled maximum evapotranspiration
ERA Effective roof area
ERDA Effective road area
EXC Rainfall excess
ff First flush
gardenarea Average garden area in a unit block
GWR Groundwater recharge
GWS Groundwater storage level
ha Hectare
I Imported water
II Infiltration index
Ij Volume of water injected into the aquifer
Il Initial loss from an impervious surface
Ina Supply of water for aquifer recharge
INF Infiltration of stormwater into the wastewater system
INFS Infiltration store level
Insw Inflow of stormwater into stormwater store
Inww Inflow of wastewater into stormwater store
IR Irrigation requirement
IRC Infiltration recession constant
IRUN Impervious surface runoff
ISI Inflow
IWU Indoor water use
kL Kilolitres
kL/d Kilolitres per day
kL/hh/y Kilolitres per household per year
kL/y Kilolitres per year
L/c/d Litres per capita per day
L/d Litres per day
L/hh/d Litres per household per day
LD Leakage depth
m2 Square metres
N Total number of time steps in the total time period
NEAR Non-effective area runoff
Nw Total water need
Oa Overflow from the surface store associated with aquifer storage and recovery
occ Average unit block occupancy
Osw Overflow from the stormwater store
46
Abbreviations
Oww Overflow from the wastewater store

p event failure
P Precipitation
pavedarea Average paved area in a unit block
Pe Probability of event failure
PIL Paved area maximum initial loss
POSarea Area of public open space within the cluster
PS1 Pervious storage 1 level
PS1c Pervious storage 1 capacity
PS2 Pervious storage 2 level
PS2c Pervious storage 2 capacity
PST Paved area surface storage level
R Rainfall excess
Ra Volume of water recovered from the aquifer
RDIL Road area maximum initial loss
RDST Road surface storage level
Re Event reliability
REC Average recorded value in the period of interest

REC Sum of recorded flow
RECi Recorded flow in time period i
RIL Roof area maximum initial loss
RIS Infiltration store recharge
roadarea Road area within the cluster
roofarea Average roof area in a unit block
Rs Stormwater runoff
Rsimp Stormwater runoff form impervious surfaces
RST Roof surface storage level
Rv Volumetric reliability
Rw Wastewater discharge
SDOF Objective function - sum of square of differences
SIM Sum of simulated flow
SIM/REC Objective function - the sum of simulated values divided by the sum of recorded
values
SIMi Simulated flow in time period I
SRUN Pervious surface runoff
St Storage volume in the stormwater store at the end of the current time step
St-1 Storage volume in the stormwater store at the end of the previous time step
Sv Total volume supplied in the time period N
TG Garden trigger to irrigate
u Amount of water used in a period
47
Ur Utilisation rate
Vn Vulnerability
Wt Wastewater storage volume at the end of the current time step
Wt-1 Wastewater storage volume at the end of the current time step
48
References
Appendix B - References
Abbott, J. (1977) Guidelines for Calibration and Application of Storm. The Hydrologic
Engineering Center, US Army Corps of Engineers. Training document No. 8
Anderson, J.M. (1995) Water Conservation and Recycling in Australia: Scenarios for
Sustainable Urban Water Use in the 21st Century. AWWA 16th Federal
Convention, Sydney, pp 389-395.
Boughton, W.C. (1993) A Hydrograph-based Model For Estimating The Water Yield Of
Ungauged Catchments. Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium, Newcastle,
IEAust, pp. 317-324.
Boyd, M.J., Bufill, M.C. and Knee, R.M. (1993) “Pervious and impervious runoff in urban
catchments.” Hydrological Sciences Vol. 38 (6) : pp. 463-478.
Chiew, F.H.S. (1990) Estimating Groundwater Recharge Using an Integrated Surface and
Groundwater Model. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Melbourne.
Chiew, F.H.S. and McMahon, T.A. (1993) “Assessing the Adequacy of Catchment
Streamflow Yield Estimates.” Australian Journal of Soil Research Vol. 31 : pp.
665-680.
Chiew, F.H.S., Osman, E.H. and McMahon, T.A. (1995) Modelling daily and monthly runoff
in urban catchments. The Second International Symposium on Urban Stormwater
Management, Melbourne, Australia, Institute of Engineers Australia, pp. 255-260.
Chiew, F.H.S., Stewardson, M.J. and McMahon, T.A. (1993) “Comparison of six rainfall-
runoff modelling approaches.” Journal of Hydrology Vol. 147 (1993) : pp. 1-36.
Clark, R.D.S. (1990) “Asset Replacement: Can We Get It Right?” Water Vol. Feb : pp. 22-
24.
Cordery, I. (1977) “Quality Characteristics of Urban Storm Water in Sydney, Australia.”
Water Resources Research Vol. 13 (1) Feb 1977 : pp. 197-202.
Cox, D. and Cartwright, A. (1998) Water Usage at Stringybark Grove - an Environmentally
Sustainable Housing Development
Davis, L. (1992) Domestic Watering and Consequent Waste Runoff in Melbourne. University
of Melbourne.
Dendrou, S.A. (1982) Overview of Urban Stormwater Models. Urban Stormwater Hydrology.
Washington, D.C., American Geophysical Union. 271pp.
Denmead, O.T. and Shaw, R.H. (1962) "Availability of Soil Water to Plants as Affected by
Soil Moisture Content and Meteorological Conditions." Agronomy Journal Vol. 54
(5): pp. 385-389.
Digney, J.E. and Gillies, J.A. (1995) “Artificial Recharge in Saskatchewan: Current
Developments.” Water Resources Bulletin Vol. 31 (1) : pp. 33-42.
49
Diskin, M.H. and Simon, E. (1977) “A Procedure for the selection of objective functions for
hydrologic simulation models.” Journal of Hydrology Vol. 34 (1977): pp. 129-
149.
Duncan, H.P. and Wigth, D.J. (1991) Rainwater Tanks For Domestic Water Supply In The
Melbourne Area. Board of Works.
Federer, C.A. (1979) “A Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Model for Transpiration and Availability of
Soil Water.” Water Resources Research Vol. 15 (3) : pp. 555-562.
Foster, S.S.D., Morris, B.L. and Lawrence, A.R. (1994) Effects of urbanisation on groundwater
recharge. Groundwater problems in urban areas, London, Thomas Telford, pp
43-63.
Heeps, D.P. (1977) Efficiency in Industrial, Municipal and Domestic Water Use. Australian
Water Resources Council Technical Paper. Research Project No. 72/41.
Klemes, V. (1986) “Operational testing of hydrological simulation models.” Hydrological
Sciences Vol. 31 (1): pp. 13-24.
Koomey, J.G., Dunham, C. and Lutz, J.D. (1994) The Effect of Efficiency Standards on Water
Use and Water Heating Energy Use in the US: A Detailed End-use Treatment. LBL-
35475. May 1994, http://enduse.lbl.gov/Info/LBNL-35475.pdf.
Law, I.B. (1997) Domestic Non-Potable Reuse - Why Even Consider it? AWWA 17th Federal
Convention, Melbourne, AWWA, pp 135-142.
Maidment, D.R., Ed. (1993) Handbook of Hydrology. New York, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Metcalf & Eddy Inc, University of Florida, Water Resources Engineers Inc., (1971) Storm
Water Management Model Volume 1 - Final Report. EPA. 11024 DOC 07/71.
Mitchell, V. G., Mein, R. G., & McMahon, T. A. (2001) Modelling the Urban Water Cycle.
Journal of Environmental Modelling & Software, Vol. 16 (7) pp 615-629.
National Water Quality Management Strategy (1996) Draft Guidelines for Sewerage Systems
- Use of Reclaimed Water. National Health and Medical Research Council. Report
No. 14.
O'Loughlin, G. (1991) Workshop on the ILSAX Program. IEAust
Oaksford, E.T. (1985) Artificial Recharge: Methods, Hydraulics, and Monitoring. Artificial
Recharge of Groundwater. Boston, Butterworth Publishers. pp 69-128.
Pavelic, P., Gerges, N.Z., Dillon, P.J. and Armstrong, D. (1992) The Potential for Storage
and Re-Use of Adelaide's Stormwater Runoff Using the Upper Quaternary
Groundwater System. Centre for Groundwater Studies. Report No. 40.
Power, N.A., Volker, R.E. and Stark, K.P. (1981) “Deterministic Models for Predicting
Residential Water Consumption.” Water Resources Bulletin Vol. 17 (6) : pp. 1042-
1049.
van de Griend, A.A. and Engman, E.T. (1985) Partial Area Hydrology and Remote Sensing.
Journal of Hydrology Vol. 81 (1985): pp. 211-251.
Water Authority of Western Australia (1987) Domestic Water Use in Perth, Western Australia
Working Papers. Vol. 2. Perth: Water Authority of Western Australia
50
Technical Reference
Appendix C - Technical
Reference
This technical reference documentation details Aquacycle’s input data and output file
contents and formats. The data files are all in ASCII text format.
There are a total of six input files required to run Aquacycle. These six files are:
1 Indoor water usage profile file (*.wpf)
2 Climate data file (*.clm)
3 Unit block file (*.ubl)
4 Cluster file (*.clu)
5 Catchment file (*.cmt)
6 Parameter & initial value file (*.prm)
These files can be loaded as a group using a group file (*.gro). There is an additional input
file that is required to calibrate the parameters used by Aquacycle. This file is called the
Recorded file
There are a total of ten groups of output file that can be output from Aquacycle. These ten
groups are (where n is the cluster number):
1 Simulation output file SimCat.csv
2 Catchment balance output file CatchmentDailyBal.csv
3 Cluster daily water balance output file ClusterDailyBaln.csv
4 Unit block daily water balance output file UnitBlockDailyBaln.csv
5 Catchment monthly output file CatchmentMthly.csv
6 Cluster monthly output file ClusterMthlyn.csv
7 Catchment annual output file CatchmentYearly.csv
8 Cluster annual output file ClusterYearlyn.csv
9 Catchment component water use output CatchmentWaterDemand.csv
10 Cluster component water use output file ClusterWaterDemandn.csv
51
C.1 - Input files

There are a total of six input files required to run Aquacycle. These six files are listed in Table
C-1 below.
Table C-1: Input data files
Input File Type File Suffix

Indoor water usage profile .wpf
Climate data .clm
Unit block .ubl
Cluster .clu
Catchment .cmt
Parameter & initial values .prm
The climate data file must to be created outside the Aquacycle program using a text editor.
All other input data files can be created within Aquacycle and saved for later use or created
using a text editor. Details on how to create the climate data file, as well as the four other
input files, are given below.
There are also two optional files, the group file and recorded file, which are also detailed
below.
C.1.1 - Indoor water usage profile file

The indoor water usage water profile file provides Aquacycle with data on domestic water use
for a particular urban area and period of time.
The following is an example of an indoor water usage profile file:
CanberraAverage2003
1,31,99,90,51
2,50,161,148,94
3,64,218,194,163
4,74,258,237,204
5,79,284,264,234
6,95,322,298,268
7,111,359,332,301
0.6,0.5,0.25
The first line contains the identifier for the file (water profile key), being any continuous string
of alphanumerics.
The second to eighth line contain the breakdown of domestic water use, in units of Litres per
household per day. The order used is: household occupancy, kitchen water use, bathroom
water use, toilet water use, and laundry toilet use. These lines must be ordered from
occupancy of one to seven.
The ninth line and final line gives the proportion of hot water use to total water use in
kitchen, bathroom, and laundry, in this order.
Note The beta version of Aquacycle required the indoor water profile input
file to have a tenth line that contained a single number, the Equivalent
Population factor. The current version of Aquacycle no longer uses this
approach to representing non-residential water usage. It will still load
and use a indoor water profile input file which has a tenth line,
although it does not read it in or use it.
52
Technical Reference
C.1.2 - Climate data file

The climate data file contains historic daily rainfall and potential evaporation data series, in
units of millimetres per day. The series can start and stop on any day within a calendar year.
The date format used is YYYYMMDD, so 3rd December 1995 is represented as 19951203.
The following is an example of a climate data file:
19780101,Paradise_Bom034566_Bom45646,19961231
19780201,0,6.25
19780202,34.8,4.43
.
.
to
.
.
19961229,1.4,4.57
19961230,0.18,6.48
19961231,0,5.58
The first line contains the start date, location identifier (climate file key), and end date. The
location identifier can be any continuous string of alphanumerics, stating the region that the
climate series applies to.
The second to final line contains the date, rainfall, and potential evaporation. It is preferable
that the rainfall and potential evaporation values for a given day are the 24 hour
measurements for midnight to midnight. Although, 9 am readings (for the 24 hours
preceding 9 am) can be used with little impact expected.
C.1.3 - Unit block file

The unit block file contains details on the options selected for the unit blocks within each
cluster being simulated. All unit blocks within the cluster have the same arrangements but
these arrangements may differ significantly between clusters.
The following is an example of a unit block file:
5
1,10,0,50,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
1,7,0,50,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,4,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
1,10,0,50,0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
The first line contains the number of clusters of unit blocks represented in the file (e.g. 5 in
this case).
The second to final line contains 33 comma separated numeric values indicating the type of
arrangements selected for each cluster in turn. Each line relates to a single cluster only and
the lines are in order of cluster number (first cluster to last cluster). So, the number of lines in
the file is one greater than the number given in the first line.
The specific options contained in each line, the order of these options, and the range of valid
values for each item are as follows:
1 Supply garden irrigation with imported water? 0 or 1
2 Rain tank storage capacity in m3, 0
3 Rain tank exposed surface in m2, 0
4 Rain tank first flush in Litres, 0
5 Domestic hot water from rain tank? 0 or 1
6 Domestic kitchen cold water from rain tank? 0 or 1
53
7 Domestic bathroom cold water from rain tank? 0 or 1

8 Domestic laundry cold water from rain tank? 0 or 1
9 Domestic toilet water from rain tank? 0 or 1
10 Domestic garden irrigation from rain tank? 0 or 1
11 Kitchen greywater for sub-surface irrigation? 0 or 1
12 Bathroom greywater for sub-surface irrigation? 0 or 1
13 Laundry greywater for sub-surface irrigation? 0 or 1
14 Wastewater treatment and storage capacity in m3, 0
15 Wastewater treatment and storage exposed surface in m2, 0
16 Treat kitchen wastewater? 0 or 1
17 Treat bathroom wastewater? 0 or 1
18 Treat laundry wastewater? 0 or 1
19 Treat toilet wastewater? 0 or 1
20 Toilet water from wastewater store? 0 or 1
21 Garden irrigation from wastewater store? 0 or 1
22 Wastewater storage overflow to sewer? 0 or 1
23 Wastewater storage overflow to stormwater? 0 or 1
24 Unit block runoff draining to cluster stormwater store? 0 or 1
25 Supply toilet from a cluster stormwater store? specify cluster number or 0
26 Supply garden irrigation from a cluster stormwater store? specify cluster number or 0
27 Unit block wastewater draining to cluster wastewater store? 0 or 1
28 Supply toilet from a cluster wastewater store? Specify cluster number or 0
29 Supply garden irrigation from a cluster wastewater store? specify cluster number or 0
30 Supply toilet from catchment scale stormwater storage? 0 or 1
31 Supply garden irrigation from catchment scale stormwater storage? 0 or 1
32 Supply toilet from catchment scale wastewater storage? 0 or 1
33 Supply garden irrigation from catchment scale wastewater storage? 0 or 1
C.1.4 - Cluster file

The cluster file contains details on the water options selected for each cluster within
catchment being simulated. All cluster within the catchment have the same water
arrangements but these arrangements may differ significantly between clusters.
The following is an example of a cluster file:
5
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0
1500,0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,4,0,0,0
0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0
The first line contains the number of cluster represented in the file (e.g. 5 in this case).
The second to final line contains 19 comma separated numeric values indicating the type of
arrangements selected for each cluster in turn. Each line relates to a single cluster only and
54
Technical Reference
the lines are in order of cluster number (first cluster to last cluster). So, the number of lines in
the file is one greater than the number given in the first line.
values for each item.
1 Cluster scale stormwater storage capacity in m3, 0
2 Cluster scale stormwater storage exposed surface in m2, 0
3 Cluster scale stormwater storage first flush in m3, 0
4 Road runoff to Cluster scale stormwater store? 0 or 1
5 Collect stormwater from upstream clusters? 0 or 1
6 Cluster scale wastewater storage capacity in m3, 0
7 Cluster scale wastewater storage exposed surface in m2, 0
8 Collect wastewater from upstream clusters? 0 or 1
9 Cluster scale wastewater storage overflow to sewer? 0 or 1
10 Cluster scale wastewater storage overflow to stormwater? 0 or 1
11 Aquifer storage and recovery storage capacity in m3, 0
12 Maximum aquifer storage and recovery recharge rate in m3/d, 0
13 Maximum aquifer storage and recovery rate in m3/d, 0
14 Supply public open space irrigation from imported water? 0 or 1
15 Supply public open space irrigation from a cluster stormwater store? specify cluster
number or 0
16 Supply public open space irrigation from a cluster wastewater store? specify cluster
number or 0
17 Supply public open space irrigation from the catchment stormwater store? 0 or 1
18 Supply public open space irrigation from the catchment wastewater store? 0 or 1
19 Drain stormwater runoff into the cluster stormwater store? 0 or 1
C.1.5 - Catchment file

The catchment scale file contains details on the water options selected for the catchment
within each cluster being simulated.
The following is an example of a catchment scale file:
2715.3,0,100,0,0,0,0,0
The single line contains 8 comma separated numeric values indicating the type of
arrangements selected for the catchment.
values for each item.
1 Catchment size in hectares, 0
2 0
3 Catchment scale stormwater storage capacity in m3, 0
4 Catchment scale stormwater storage exposed surface area in m2, 0
5 Catchment scale stormwater storage first flush in m3, 0
6 Catchment scale wastewater storage capacity in m3, 0
55
7 Catchment scale wastewater storage exposed surface area in m2, 0

8 Catchment scale wastewater storage overflow to stormwater not sewer? 0 or 1
C.1.6 - Parameter and initial value file

The parameter and initial value input file contains details on the measured parameters,
calibrated parameters, and initial storage level values for each cluster in the catchment being
simulated.
The file is structured in three blocks separated by a line containing a single zero. Each line in
a block relates to a single cluster and the lines are in order of cluster number, from first to
last. The following is an example of a parameter and initial value input file:
5
1248,2.97,1155,820,276,59,70,190,14.1,31.8,10,3,4,0
1,0,0,0,0,0,0,57.4,0,57.4,10,3,4,0
784,2.63,1148,880,208,60,70,120.8,17.6,13.2,10,3,4,0
1,0,74000,18000,16000,40000,70,8.9,1.5,0,10,3,12,0
409,2.23,978,676,237,65,70,79.7,5.8,33.9,10,3,12,0
0
42,30,130,0,100,0,100,0,100,.55,.02,.095,.12,3,.5,.46
42,30,130,0,100,0,100,0,100,.55,.02,.095,.12,3,.5,.46
22,32,240,0,100,0,100,0,100,.55,.0025,.095,.12,3,.5,.46
22,32,240,0,100,0,100,0,100,.55,.0025,.095,.12,3,.5,.46
22,32,240,0,100,0,100,0,100,.55,.0025,.095,.12,3,.5,.46
0
0,0,0,0,0
0,0,0,0,0
0,0,0,30,0
0,0,0,0,0
5,0,0,0,0
The first line of the file contains the number of cluster represented within the file (e.g. 5 in this
case).
The first block of lines contains the measured parameters for each cluster. The order of these
parameters and the range of valid values for each is as follows:
1 No. of blocks in cluster, 0
2 Average household occupancy, 0
3 Area of unit block in m2, 0
4 Area of unit block garden in m2, 0
5 Area of unit block roof in m2, 0
6 Area of unit block pavement in m2, 0
7 Per cent of unit block garden irrigated as a %
8 Total area of cluster in hectares, 0
9 Road area in hectares, 0
10 Area of public open space in hectares, 0
11 Per cent of public open space irrigated as a %
12 Water supply leakage rate as a %
13 Cluster stormwater output flows into Cluster No.? specific cluster number or 0
14 Cluster wastewater output flows into Cluster No.? specific cluster number or 0
The second block of lines contains the calibrated parameters for each cluster. The order of
these parameters and the range of valid values for each is as follows:
1 Per cent area of pervious store 1 as a %
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Technical Reference
2 Capacity of pervious store 1 in mm

3 Capacity of pervious store 2 in mm
4 Roof area maximum initial loss in mm
5 Effective roof area as a %
6 Paved area maximum initial loss in mm
7 Effective paved area as a %
8 Road area maximum initial loss in mm
9 Effective road area as a %
10 Base flow index as a ratio
11 Base flow recession constant as a ratio
12 Infiltration index as a ratio
13 Infiltration store recession constant as a ratio
14 Per cent of surface runoff as inflow as a %
15 Garden trigger-to-irrigate as a ratio
16 Public open space trigger-to-irrigate as a ratio
The third block of lines contains the initial storage level values for each cluster. The order of
these the initial storage levels and the range of valid values for each is as follows:
1 Unit block tank storage level in m3
2 Unit block treated wastewater storage level in m3
3 Cluster scale stormwater storage level in m3
4 Cluster scale treated wastewater storage level in m3
5 Cluster scale aquifer storage level in m3
C.1.7 - Group file

A group file can be created, which contains the name of each of the input data files,
allowing all six files can be loaded by opening a single file. All of these files must be located
in the Aquacycle\Data directory. The following is an example of a group file:
actpro_1.wpf
ncurtin1.clm
ubsd54-b.ubl
clus54-b.clu
para541.prm
cat54.ctm
The six lines give the names of the six input files. The required order is given below.
1 Indoor water usage profile file
2 Climate data file
3 Unit block file
4 Cluster file
5 Parameter & initial value file
6 Catchment file
57
C.1.8 - Recorded file

A Recorded file can be created, which contains observed water supply, stormwater, and
wastewater data specific to a particular catchment. The following is an example of a
Recorded file:
YMD,Rs,Baseflow,Total Discharge,I/I
depth,Wastewater,TotalImpDepth,DayNITot,LineNum
19860701,0,0.078002,0.078002,0,0.297908,0.327014,0.049807,1
19860702,0,0.229588,0.229588,0,0.292098,0.297847,0.02064,1
19860703,6.804184,0.229588,7.033772,0.104422,0.40233,0.292377,0.01517,1
19860704,0.797739,0.229588,1.027327,0.140919,0.438827,0.297474,0.020267,1
19860705,3.230251,0.229588,3.459839,0.120121,0.418029,0.284003,0.006796,1
.
.
to
.
.
19960615,6.804184,0.229588,7.033772,0.104422,0.40233,0.292377,0.0151
7,1
19960616,0.797739,0.229588,1.027327,0.140919,0.438827,0.297474,0.020
267,1
The first line contains the header listing the order of the items in the proceeding lines of the
file. There are nine items on each line, being:
1 Date in YYYYMMDD format
2 Surface runoff
3 Base flow
4 Stormwater discharge
5 Inflow and infiltration into the wastewater system
6 Wastewater outflow
7 Total imported water use
8 Outdoor water use
9 Line number
Items 2 to 8 are daily areal depth (mm/d) values.
The line number entry is required to ensure that there are nine commas in each line of the
file, delimiting nine input values. If you have no data for a particular item type (such as base
flow) then simply leave a blank in the appropriate location.
C.2 - Output files
C.2.1 - Simulation output file

The simulation output file contains daily areal depth values for the items that are useful for
assessing the performance Aquacycle in reproducing observed catchment behaviour.
The first line of the output file is a header listing the order of the items in each of the
proceeding lines of the file. Output for each day in the simulation period is written to line,
from the first day to the last day of the simulation period.
The file consists of eight daily areal depth (mm/d) values, in the following order:
1 Date in YYYYMMDD format
58
Technical Reference
2 Catchment surface runoff

3 Catchment base flow
4 Catchment stormwater discharge
5 Catchment inflow and infiltration into the wastewater system
6 Catchment wastewater outflow
7 Catchment total imported water use
8 Catchment outdoor water use (irrigation)
C.2.2 - Optimisation output file

The optimisation output file contains a selection of performance measures for the
optimisation for each of the clusters contained in the catchment being simulated.
The first line of each block of the output file is a header listing the cluster number while the
second line is a header listing the order of the items in the proceeding lines of the file in each
block. An individual line contains the output of a single iteration. Note that the values are
for the total simulation period, as determined by the start year and end year selected in the
Main screen.
The file consists of seven values, in the following order:
1 Capacity of the storage type selected, m3
2 Total use in the simulation period, kL
3 Total demand in the simulation period, kL
4 Volumetric reliability in the simulation period, ratio
5 Best size so far in the optimisation, kL
6 Best volumetric reliability so far in the optimisation, ratio
7 % change from previous size tested
C.2.3 - Catchment balance file

The daily catchment scale water balance file is called CatchmentDailyBal.csv. This file
contains information on the water balance components of the whole catchment that was
simulated.
The header lists the items contained the output file, in order. These items are written a new
line for each day in the simulation period.
The file consists of 17 items, in the following order:
1 Year
2 Month
3 Day
4 Precipitation in mm/d
5 Bulk imported water in mm/d
6 Actual evaporation in mm/d
7 Stormwater surface runoff in mm/d
8 Wastewater runoff in mm/d
9 Base flow in mm/d
10 Stormwater discharge in mm/d
59
11 Change in catchment storage in mm/d

12 Daily catchment balance in mm/d
13 Catchment irrigation demand depth in mm/d
14 Catchment irrigation demand volume in kL/d
15 Volume of irrigation supplied to catchment in kL/d
16 Recharge to groundwater from catchment in mm/d
17 Net transfers between clusters in mm/d
C.2.4 - Cluster daily water balance output file

The daily cluster scale water balance file is called ClusterDailyBaln.csv where n is the cluster
number. So, there is a separate cluster scale water balance output file for each cluster in the
catchment. These files contain information on the water balance components of each cluster.
The header lists the items contained the output file, in order. These items are written a new
line for each day in the simulation period.
The file consists of 38 items, in the following order:
1 Year
2 Month
3 Day
5 Bulk imported water in mm/d
6 Actual evaporation in mm/d
7 Surface stormwater output in mm/d
8 Surface stormwater input in mm/d
9 Stormwater transfer in mm/d
10 Wastewater output in mm/d
11 Wastewater input in mm/d
12 Wastewater transfer in mm/d
13 Impervious surface runoff in mm/d
14 Baseflow in mm/d
15 Change in storage in mm/d
16 Cluster balance in mm/d
17 Cluster irrigation demand depth in mm/d
18 Cluster irrigation demand volume in kL/d
19 Cluster irrigation supply (volume) in kL/d
20 Cluster household irrigation supply (volume) in kL/d
21 Cluster groundwater recharge in mm/d
22 Wastewater volume to cluster wastewater treatment plant in kL/d
23 Cluster stormwater store inflow in kL/d
24 Cluster stormwater store precipitation input in kL/d
25 Cluster stormwater store evaporation in kL/d
26 Cluster stormwater store spillage in kL/d
60
Technical Reference
27 Cluster stormwater store usage in kL/d

28 Cluster stormwater store retained volume in kL/d
29 Use of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/d
30 Demand for cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/d
31 Spillage of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/d
32 Deficit of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/d
33 Supply of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/d
34 Supply of cluster scale ASR in kL/d
35 Demand for cluster scale ASR in kL/d
36 Water injected into ASR in kL/d
37 Water recovered from ASR in kL/d
38 Deficit of supply from ASR in kL/d
C.2.5 - Unit block daily water balance output file

The daily unit block scale water balance file is called UnitBlockDailyBaln.csv where n is the
cluster number. So, there is a separate unit block scale water balance output file for each
cluster in the catchment. These files contain information on the water balance components of
the unit blocks within each cluster.
The file consists of 2 sections. The first section contains 2 lines with 5 items in each, with line
1 being a header line. The 5 items are in the following order:
1 Climate file key
2 Water profile file key
3 Cluster size in m2
4 Sum of greywater output in L/d for all unit blocks in cluster
5 Sum of blackwater output in L/d for all unit blocks in cluster
The first line in the second section is a header line. These items are written a new line for
each day in the simulation period. The section contains 41 items, in the following order:
1 Year
2 Month
3 Day
5 Groundwater storage level in mm/d
6 Potential evaporation in mm/d
7 Actual evaporation from pervious areas in mm/d
8 Actual evaporation from unit block in mm/d
9 Surface runoff in mm/d
10 Wastewater output in mm/d
11 Groundwater recharge in mm/d
13 Unit block imported water depth in mm/d
14 Unit block balance in mm/d
61
15 Change in storage in mm/d

16 Rain day? with 1 = yes
17 Irrigation volume supplied in kL/unitblock/d
18 Irrigation demand depth in mm/d
19 Roof runoff yield in kL/unitblock/d
20 Raintank spillage in kL/unitblock/d
21 Raintank spill event with 1 = yes
22 Raintank evaporation in kL/unitblock/d
23 Subsurface greywater irrigation demand in kL/unitblock/d
24 Raintank demand in kL/unitblock/d
25 Raintank event failure with 1 = yes
26 Raintank use in kL/unitblock/d
27 Subsurface greywater irrigation use in kL/unitblock/d
28 Subsurface greywater irrigation deficit in kL/unitblock/d
29 Raintank deficit in kL/unitblock/d
30 Excess of wastewater from subsurface greywater irrigation in kL/unitblock/d
31 Greywater available for subsurface greywater irrigation in kL/unitblock/d
32 Subsurface greywater irrigation event failure with 1 = yes
33 Volume of irrigation supplied to unit block in kL/unitblock/d
34 Surface runoff from garden in mm/d
35 Onsite wastewater unit deficit in kL/unitblock/d
36 Onsite wastewater unit volumetric vulnerability in ratio
37 Onsite wastewater unit event failure with 1 = yes
38 Onsite wastewater unit use in kL/unitblock/d
39 Onsite wastewater unit demand in kL/unitblock/d
40 Onsite wastewater unit supply in kL/unitblock/d
41 Onsite wastewater unit spillage in kL/unitblock/d
C.2.6 - Catchment monthly output file

The monthly catchment scale output file is called CatchmentMthly.csv. This file contains
information on the water balance components of the catchment as well as information on the
performance of each water method.
The header lists the items contained the output file, in order. These items are written a line
for each month in the simulation period. The file consists of 86 items, in the following order:
1 Year
2 Month
3 Day
4 Precipitation in mm/mth
5 Potential evaporation in mm/mth
6 Actual evaporation from pervious area in mm/mth
7 Actual evaporation from catchment in mm/mth
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Technical Reference
8 Surface runoff out of catchment in mm/mth

9 Wastewater runoff out of catchment in mm/mth
10 Groundwater recharge in mm/mth
11 Base flow in mm/mth
12 Stormwater runoff out of catchment in mm/mth
13 Impervious surface runoff out of catchment in mm/mth
14 Bulk imported water into catchment mm/mth
15 Bulk imported water into catchment kL/mth
16 Change in catchment storage in mm/mth
17 Number of rain days in month
18 Volume of irrigation supplied to catchment in kL/mth
19 Catchment irrigation demand volume in kL/mth
20 Volume of domestic irrigation supplied to catchment in kL/mth
21 Volume of water running off roofs into rain tanks kL/mth
22 Volume of water spilling from rain tanks in kL/mth
23 Catchment demand for subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/mth
24 Catchment demand for tank water in kL/mth
25 Number of times rain tanks in catchment failed to fully meet demand (sum of the
number of event failures in each cluster during the month)
26 Catchment use of tank water in kL/mth
27 Catchment use of subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/mth
28 Catchment deficit of subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/mth
29 Catchment deficit of rain tank water in kL/mth
30 Spillage from subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/mth
31 Use of subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/mth
32 Number of times subsurface greywater irrigation systems in catchment failed to fully
meet demand (sum of the number of event failures in each cluster during the month)
33 Volume of irrigation supplied to catchment in kL/mth
34 Runoff from pervious surfaces in mm/mth
35 Catchment use of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
36 Catchment demand for cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
37 Catchment supply of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
38 Catchment deficit of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
39 Catchment spillage of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
40 Number of times cluster scale stormwater storages in catchment failed to fully meet
demand
41 Catchment deficit of on-site treated wastewater in kL/mth
42 Monthly volumetric vulnerability of on-site treated wastewater system (ratio)
43 Number of times on-site treated wastewater systems in catchment failed to fully meet
demand
44 Catchment use of on-site treated wastewater in kL/mth
45 Catchment demand for on-site treated wastewater in kL/mth
63
46 Catchment supply of on-site treated wastewater in kL/mth

47 Catchment spillage of on-site treated wastewater in kL/mth
48 Catchment use of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
49 Catchment demand for cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
50 Catchment spillage of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
51 Catchment deficit of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
52 Number of times cluster scale wastewater storages in catchment failed to fully meet
demand
53 Catchment supply of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
54 Catchment supply of cluster scale ASR in kL/mth
55 Catchment demand for cluster scale ASR in kL/mth
56 Amount of water injected into cluster scale ASR in the catchment in kL/mth
57 Amount of water recovered form cluster scale ASR in the catchment in kL/mth
58 Catchment deficit of supply from ASR in kL/mth
59 Number of times cluster scale ASR in catchment failed to fully meet demand
60 Monthly volumetric vulnerability of ASR in catchment (ratio)
61 Use of catchment scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
62 Spillage of catchment scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
63 Number of times catchment scale stormwater storage failed to fully meet demand
64 Monthly volumetric vulnerability of catchment scale stormwater storage (ratio)
65 Deficit of catchment scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
66 Demand for catchment scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
67 Supply of catchment scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
68 Use of catchment scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
69 Spillage of catchment scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
70 Number of times catchment scale wastewater storage failed to fully meet demand
71 Monthly volumetric vulnerability of catchment scale wastewater storage (ratio)
72 Deficit of catchment scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
73 Demand for catchment scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
74 Supply of catchment scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
75 Volume of water supplied for household garden irrigation in the catchment in kL/mth
76 Total depth of actual evapotranspiration from the unit block gardens in mm/mth
77 Depth of recharge from unit block gardens in total catchment in mm/mth
78 Water supplied from the cluster stormwater store to unit blocks in the catchment in
kL/mth
79 Water supplied from the cluster wastewater store to unit blocks in the catchment in
kL/mth
80 Water supplied from the catchment stormwater store to unit blocks in the catchment in
kL/mth
81 Water supplied from the catchment wastewater store to unit blocks in the catchment in
kL/mth
82 Volume of water evaporating from all rain tanks in catchment in kL/mth
64
Technical Reference
83 Volume of water evaporating from all cluster stormwater stores in catchment in kL/mth
84 Volume of water evaporating from all cluster wastewater stores in catchment in kL/mth
85 Volume of water evaporating from all catchment stormwater stores in catchment in
kL/mth
86 Volume of water evaporating from all catchment wastewater stores in catchment in
kL/mth
C.2.7 - Cluster monthly output file

The monthly cluster scale output file is called ClusterMthlyn.csv where n is the cluster number.
This file contains information on the water balance components of the cluster as well as
information on the performance of each water management method.
for each month in the simulation period. The file consists of 78 items, in the following order:
1 Year
2 Month
3 Day
4 Precipitation in mm/mth
5 Potential evaporation in mm/mth
6 Actual evaporation from pervious area in mm/mth
7 Actual evaporation from cluster in mm/mth
8 Surface runoff out of cluster in mm/mth
9 Surface runoff into cluster in mm/mth
10 Wastewater runoff out of cluster in mm/mth
11 Wastewater runoff into cluster in mm/mth
12 Groundwater recharge in mm/mth
13 Base flow in mm/mth
14 Stormwater runoff out of cluster in mm/mth
15 Impervious surface runoff out of cluster in mm/mth
16 Bulk imported water into cluster in mm/mth
17 Bulk imported water into cluster in kL/mth
18 Change in cluster storage in mm/mth
19 Number of rain days in month in days
20 Volume of irrigation supplied to cluster in kL/mth
21 Cluster irrigation demand volume in kL/mth
22 Cluster irrigation demand depth in mm/mth
23 Volume of domestic irrigation supplied to cluster in kL/mth
24 Volume of water running off roofs into rain tanks in kL/unitblock/mth
25 Volume of water spilling from rain tanks in kL/unitblock/mth
26 Demand for subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/unitblock/mth
27 Demand for tank water in kL/unitblock/mth
28 Number of times rain tanks in cluster failed to fully meet demand in days
65
29 Use of tank water in kL/unitblock/mth

30 Use of subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/unitblock/mth
31 Deficit of subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/unitblock/mth
32 Deficit of rain tank water in kL/unitblock/mth
33 Spillage from subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/unitblock/mth
34 Use of subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/unitblock/mth
35 Number of times subsurface greywater irrigation systems in cluster failed to fully meet
demand in days
36 Volume of irrigation supplied to cluster in kL/mth
37 Runoff from pervious surfaces in mm/mth
38 Use of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
39 Demand for cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
40 Supply of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
41 Deficit of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
42 Spillage of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
43 Number of times cluster scale stormwater storage failed to fully meet demand in days
44 Deficit of on-site treated wastewater in kL/unitblock/mth
45 Monthly volumetric vulnerability of on-site treated wastewater system in ratio
46 Number of times on-site treated wastewater systems in cluster failed to fully meet
demand in days
47 Use of on-site treated wastewater in kL/unitblock/mth
48 Demand for on-site treated wastewater in kL/unitblock/mth
49 Supply of on-site treated wastewater in kL/unitblock/mth
50 Spillage of on-site treated wastewater in kL/unitblock/mth
51 Use of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
52 Demand for cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
53 Spillage of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
54 Deficit of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
55 Number of times cluster scale wastewater storage failed to fully meet demand in days
56 Supply of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
57 Net transfer of water into or out of cluster in kL/mth
58 Supply of cluster scale ASR in kL/mth
59 Demand for cluster scale ASR in kL/mth
60 Amount of water injected into ASR in the cluster in kL/mth
61 Amount of water recovered form ASR in the cluster in kL/mth
62 Deficit of supply from ASR in kL/mth
63 Number of times ASR in cluster failed to fully meet demand in day
64 Monthly volumetric vulnerability of ASR in cluster in ratio
65 Water supplied for household garden irrigation in the whole catchment in kL/mth
66 Depth of actual evapotranspiration from the unit block gardens in mm/mth
67 Total depth of recharge from the unit block gardens in mm/mth
66
Technical Reference
68 Use of catchment scale stormwater storage in kL/mth

69 Use of catchment scale stormwater storage by unit blocks in kL/mth
70 Use of catchment scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
71 Use of catchment scale wastewater storage by unit blocks in kL/mth
72 Use of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/mth
73 Use of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/mth
74 Use of cluster scale stormwater storage by unit blocks in kL/mth
75 Use of cluster scale wastewater storage by unit blocks in kL/mth
76 Volume of water evaporating from rain tank in kL/mth
77 Volume of water evaporating from cluster stormwater store in kL/mth
78 Volume of water evaporating from cluster wastewater store in kL/mth
C.2.8 - Catchment annual output file

The annual catchment scale output file is called CatchmentYearly.csv. This file contains
information on the water balance components of the catchment as well as information on the
performance of each water management method.
for each year in the simulation period. The file consists of 81 items, in the following order:
1 Year
2 Precipitation in mm/y
3 Potential evaporation in mm/y
4 Actual evaporation from pervious area in mm/y
5 Actual evaporation from catchment in mm/y
6 Surface runoff out of catchment in mm/y
8 Wastewater runoff out of catchment in mm/y
9 Groundwater recharge in mm/y
10 Base flow in mm/y
11 Stormwater runoff out of catchment in mm/y
12 Bulk imported water into catchment mm/y
13 Bulk imported water into catchment kL/y
14 Change in catchment storage in mm/y
15 Number of rain days in year
16 Volume of irrigation supplied to catchment in kL/y
17 Catchment irrigation demand volume in kL/y
18 Volume of domestic irrigation supplied to catchment in kL/y
19 Volume of water running off roofs into rain tanks kL/y
20 Volume of water spilling from rain tanks in kL/y
21 Catchment demand for subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/y
22 Catchment demand for tank water in kL/y
67
23 Number of times rain tanks in catchment failed to fully meet demand (sum of the
number of event failures in each cluster during the year)
24 Catchment use of tank water in kL/y
25 Catchment use of subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/y
26 Catchment deficit of subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/y
27 Catchment deficit of rain tank water in kL/y
28 Spillage from subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/y
29 Use of subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/y
meet demand (sum of the number of event failures in each cluster during the year)
32 Total irrigated area in catchment in m2
33 Runoff from pervious surfaces in mm/y
34 Catchment use of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/y
35 Catchment demand for cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/y
36 Catchment supply of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/y
37 Catchment deficit of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/y
38 Catchment spillage of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/y
demand
40 Catchment deficit of on-site treated wastewater in kL/y
41 Annual volumetric vulnerability of on-site treated wastewater system (ratio)
demand
43 Catchment use of on-site treated wastewater in kL/y
44 Catchment demand for on-site treated wastewater in kL/y
45 Catchment supply of on-site treated wastewater in kL/y
46 Catchment spillage of on-site treated wastewater in kL/y
47 Catchment use of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/y
48 Catchment demand for cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/y
49 Catchment spillage of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/y
50 Catchment deficit of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/y
demand
52 Catchment supply of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/y
53 Catchment supply of cluster scale ASR in kL/y
54 Catchment demand for cluster scale ASR in kL/y
55 Amount of water injected into cluster scale ASR in the catchment in kL/y
56 Amount of water recovered form cluster scale ASR in the catchment in kL/y
57 Catchment deficit of supply from ASR in kL/y
59 Annual volumetric vulnerability of ASR in catchment (ratio)
68
Technical Reference
60 Use of catchment scale stormwater storage in kL/y

61 Spillage of catchment scale stormwater storage in kL/y
62 Number of times catchment scale stormwater storage failed to fully meet demand
63 Annual volumetric vulnerability of catchment scale stormwater storage (ratio)
64 Deficit of catchment scale stormwater storage in kL/y
65 Demand for catchment scale stormwater storage in kL/y
66 Supply of catchment scale stormwater storage in kL/y
67 Use of catchment scale wastewater storage in kL/y
68 Spillage of catchment scale wastewater storage in kL/y
69 Number of times catchment scale wastewater storage failed to fully meet demand
70 Annual volumetric vulnerability of catchment scale wastewater storage (ratio)
71 Deficit of catchment scale wastewater storage in kL/y
72 Demand for catchment scale wastewater storage in kL/y
73 Supply of catchment scale wastewater storage in kL/y
74 Annual volume of water supplied for household garden irrigation in the whole
catchment in kL/y
75 Total annual depth of actual evapotranspiration from the unit block gardens in mm/y
76 Total depth of recharge from the unit block gardens in mm/y
77 Volume of water evaporating from all rain tanks in catchment in kL/y
78 Volume of water evaporating from all cluster stormwater stores in catchment in kL/y
79 Volume of water evaporating from all cluster wastewater stores in catchment in kL/y
80 Volume of water evaporating from all catchment stormwater stores in catchment in
kL/y
81 Volume of water evaporating from all catchment wastewater stores in catchment in
kL/y
C.2.9 - Cluster annual output file

The annual cluster scale output file is called ClusterYearlyn.csv where n is the cluster number.
This file contains information on the water balance components of the cluster as well as
information on the performance of each water management method.
for each year in the simulation period. The file consists of 68 items, in the following order:
1 Year
2 Precipitation in mm/y
3 Potential evaporation in mm/y
4 Actual evaporation from pervious area in mm/y
5 Actual evaporation from catchment in mm/y
6 Surface runoff out of catchment in mm/y
7 Surface runoff into catchment in mm/y
8 Impervious surface runoff out of catchment in mm/y
9 Wastewater runoff out of catchment in mm/y
10 Wastewater runoff into catchment in mm/y
69
11 Groundwater recharge in mm/y

12 Base flow in mm/y
13 Stormwater runoff out of catchment in mm/y
14 Bulk imported water into catchment mm/y
15 Bulk imported water into catchment kL/y
16 Change in catchment storage in mm/y
17 Number of rain days in year
19 Catchment irrigation demand volume in kL/y
20 Volume of domestic irrigation supplied to catchment in kL/y
21 Volume of water running off roofs into rain tanks kL/y
22 Volume of water spilling from rain tanks in kL/y
23 Catchment demand for subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/y
24 Catchment demand for tank water in kL/y
25 Number of times rain tanks in catchment failed to fully meet demand
26 Catchment use of tank water in kL/y
27 Catchment use of subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/y
28 Catchment deficit of subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/y
29 Catchment deficit of rain tank water in kL/y
30 Spillage from subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/y
31 Use of subsurface greywater irrigation system water in kL/y
meet demand
34 Irrigated area in catchment in m2
35 Runoff from pervious surfaces in mm/y
36 Catchment use of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/y
37 Catchment demand for cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/y
38 Catchment supply of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/y
39 Catchment deficit of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/y
40 Catchment spillage of cluster scale stormwater storage in kL/y
demand
42 Catchment deficit of on-site treated wastewater in kL/y
43 Annual volumetric vulnerability of on-site treated wastewater system (ratio)
demand
45 Catchment use of on-site treated wastewater in kL/y
46 Catchment demand for on-site treated wastewater in kL/y
47 Catchment supply of on-site treated wastewater in kL/y
48 Catchment spillage of on-site treated wastewater in kL/y
70
Technical Reference
49 Catchment use of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/y

50 Catchment demand for cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/y
51 Catchment spillage of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/y
52 Catchment deficit of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/y
demand
54 Catchment supply of cluster scale wastewater storage in kL/y
55 Net transfer of water into or out of catchment
56 Catchment supply of cluster scale ASR in kL/y
57 Catchment demand for cluster scale ASR in kL/y
58 Amount of water injected into cluster scale ASR in the catchment in kL/y
59 Amount of water recovered form cluster scale ASR in the catchment in kL/y
60 Catchment deficit of supply from ASR in kL/y
62 Annual volumetric vulnerability of ASR in catchment (ratio)
63 Annual volume of water supplied for household garden irrigation in the cluster in kL/y
64 Total depth of actual evapotranspiration from the unit block gardens in mm
65 Total depth of recharge from the unit block gardens in mm
66 Volume of water evaporating from all rain tanks in cluster in kL/y
67 Volume of water evaporating from cluster stormwater store in kL/y
68 Volume of water evaporating from cluster wastewater store in kL/y
C.2.10 - Catchment water demand output file

The catchment scale water demand file contains data on the average household water
demand in the catchment. The file is called CatchmentWaterDemand.csv.
The file consists of a single line that has nine items, in the following order:
1 The water profile file key
2 The climate input file key
3 Total number of unit blocks in the catchment
4 Average catchment kitchen water use in L/d
5 Average catchment bathroom water use in L/d
6 Average catchment toilet water use in L/d
7 Average catchment laundry water use in L/d
8 Average catchment greywater output in L/d
9 Average catchment blackwater output in L/d
C.2.11 - Cluster Water Demand Output File

The cluster scale component water use file contains data on the average household water in
each cluster. There is a separate file for each cluster and is called ClusterWaterDemand
n.csv where n is the cluster number.
71
Each cluster scale file consists of a single line that has nine items, in the following order:
1 The water profile file key
2 The climate input file key
3 Total number of unit blocks in the cluster
4 Average cluster kitchen water use in L/d
5 Average cluster bathroom water use in L/d
6 Average cluster toilet water use in L/d
7 Average cluster laundry water use in L/d
8 Average cluster greywater output in L/d
9 Average cluster blackwater output in L/d
72

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3 Aquacycle Tutorial .................................................8

4 Using Aquacycle ..................................................14

5 General description of Aquacycle.........................17

6 Model Operations ...............................................25

6.6 Wastewater discharge.................................................................................. 30

7 Modelling Assumptions and Cautions ..................37

8 Calibration and Verification of Parameters...........40

Appendix A - Abbreviations ..........................................45

Appendix B - References ...............................................49

Appendix C - Technical Reference.................................51

C.1.7 - Group file........................................................................................57

1.1 The user guide

1.2 Related documents

1.3.4 Changes in comparison to the beta version

1.4 Data requirements

1.4.1 Input data

Table 1-1: Input Data Files

Input File Type File Suffix

1.4.2 Output data

Table 1-2: Output Files

Output File Group File Name

Table 2-3: Technical specifications required to run Aquacycle

Type of machine Intel based PC with CD-ROM drive

2.2 Licence agreement

2.3.2 Auto-update feature

3.1 Getting started

3.1.1 Installing Aquacycle

3.1.2 Starting Aquacycle

3.1.3 Loading input data files

Figure 3-1: The main screen with tutorial files loaded

3.2 The tutorial scenario inputs

Figure 3-2: The Measured Parameters input edit screen.

3.3 Running the simulation

3.4 Viewing the results of a simulation

Figure 3-3: Household water sources at the cluster scale.

Figure 3-4: Annual water balance in clusters 1 and 2.

3.5 Optimising the size of a store

Figure 3-5: The optimising storage size screen

3.6 Further reading

4.2 Managing input data

4.2.1 Loading input data files

4.2.2 Saving input data files

Note The values in the Calibration parameter, Measured parameter, and

4.3 Program screens

4.3.1 Splash screen

4.3.2 Main screen

4.3.3 Input Edit screen

4.3.4 Viewing Results screen

4.3.5 Simulation Performance screen

Note The simulation performance screen assesses the performance of the

5.1 The urban water cycle

precipitation imported water

Pervious surface runoff Impervious

Figure 5-7: Urban water system as represented by Aquacycle.

5.2 Modelling approach

5.3 Model structure and key features

Indoor Unit block scale operations

Figure 5-8: The structure of the Aquacycle computer program.

Table 5-4: Key feature of Aquacycle

5.4 Conceptual representation of the urban water

STORAGE LEVELS MAIN MODEL ALGORITHMS

5.5 Spatial scale

Reticulation 2 2 2 7 8 5