Model Performance Indicator of Aging Pipes in a Domestic Water Supply Distribution Network

Abstract

Aging pipes in the domestic water distribution network have the potential to decrease the quality and quantity of the treated water supplied to the consumers. Therefore, a calibrated water distribution model is helpful to monitor and understand the behaviour of a real water distribution network. However, a comprehensive performance indicator and an integrated method to assess the efficiency of model performance have not been well established in the literature. This study developed a methodology for a model calibration exercise, with consideration of two uncertainty parameters, i.e., Hazen–Williams roughness coefficient of the pipes and Non-Revenue Water (NRW) in each nodal demand. Following this, a statistical color-coded performance indicator was established, based on the Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency Coefficient (NSEC), the coefficient of determination (R2), the correlation coefficient (r), and the Mean Absolute Error (MAE). The accuracy of the calibrated model was measured by Discrepancy Ratio (DR) analysis. This study concluded that the model performed well when NRW was added to the nodal demand in zone(s) with suspected water loss activities. The suggested Hazen–Williams roughness coefficient for PVC pipes was between 130 and 140 for pipes aged more than 20 years. The threshold error value to determine the accuracy of the simulated model was proposed to be between –0.05 and 0.05.