Aggressive flushing for discolouration event mitigation in water distribution networks

Abstract

Discolouration is one of the biggest causes of customer complaint associated with potable water. The flushing of systems has been widely identified as an appropriate pro-active means of removing material from distribution networks and hence controlling discolouration. Such flushing involves creating aggressive hydraulic forces within the network such that the materials that contribute to discolouration are mobilised and removed. Understanding of the causes and mechanisms leading to discolouration are poor. Previous work has been presented on the characterisation of material and particles collected at hydrants during flushing trials in the UK. From this data it was hypothesised that the materials causing discolouration originated from cohesive layers on pipe walls, and that once disturbed the material is maintained as a permanent suspension even under the most quiescent of networks conditions. The work presented in this paper attempts to validate the hypothesis that the discolouration materials originate from cohesive layers, and investigate the nature and variability of such layers within live distribution systems. The study involved the aggressive flushing of a long discrete length of cast iron pipe with known discolouration problems. The results showed a progressive generation of material over the length of the pipe, confirming that the material originated from a uniformly distributed cohesive source. This was followed by a sequence of flushing operations for the systematic cleaning of a complex network area, encompassing a mixture of pipe materials and ages. All measured turbidity traces showed exponential decay with time. Such exponential decay may be predicted by a model based on a change in layer strength with degree of erosion. Hydraulic forces appear to be a key factor governing the availability and mobilisation of material. Iron is the dominant material mobilised from all the pipes. There is no direct trend between the amount or the composition of the material mobilised from the different pipes.