Water leakage control in water distribution networks (WDNs) is one of the main challenges of water utilities. The present study proposes a new method to locate a leakage in WDNs using feedforward artificial neural networks (ANNs). For this purpose, two ANNs training cases are considered. For case 1, the ANNs are trained by average daily water demand, including small to large hypothetical leakages.

Nitrate is one of the most toxic and pathogenic substances in drinking water. Nitrate levels have increased significantly in groundwater and surface water because of the high usage of nitrogenous fertilizers, which have lethal effects on human health. Therefore, the removal of this toxic material from surface water is absolutely essential. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency of three

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted an Arsenic Demonstration Program (ADP) whereby 50 full, small-scale arsenic removal treatment systems were evaluated for removing arsenic to below the maximum contaminant level of 10 μg/L and their operating cost for a minimum of 1 year. The majority (28) of the systems installed were adsorptive media (AM) technology with the media replaced when exhausted

Direct Solar Steam Generation (DSSG) system is an emerging technique in the field of desalination for yielding sustainable clean water. This investigation propagates through the use of nanoscale absorbers (montmorillonite) for sturdy desalination because of their excellent photo thermal conversion of nanoparticles. The solar absorber was dispersed in sea water in liquid type rather than fixed or floating

Centralized groundwater sources are the main source for drinking, domestic, industry, and agriculture in Central China. Thirty-five centralized groundwater sources were selected to determine the concentration and distribution characterization of nitrate in Wanbei Plain, Anhui Province. Meanwhile, the health risk assessment model recommended by USEPA was used to evaluate the potential health risk for

The riverbed sedimentation zone is an important zone of hydrochemistry, and the biogeochemical action in this zone has a significant impact on groundwater quality. As the main area where hydrochemistry occurs, studying the law of hydrochemical evolution within 1 m below the riverbed is of great significance for understanding the migration and removal of river pollutants. In this study, a combination

To clarify the characteristics of macrobenthic assemblages and their response to the aquatic environment in the upper and middle reaches of the Heihe River, water quality, sediments and macrobenthos measurements were conducted in the summers of 2018 and 2019. The results showed that 50 species of macrobenthos were identified, belonging to 3 phyla, 7 classes, 15 orders and 32 families, mainly arthropods

The antibacterial properties of tea polyphenols make them suitable for drinking water disinfection, but it is necessary to clarify the influence of metal ions on the sterilization efficacy. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) was selected as a representative tea polyphenol, and the effects of calcium ion (Ca2+) concentration on its disinfection properties in Escherichia coli cultures were investigated

Despite the applications of the Method of Characteristics (MOC) for analyzing the unsteady flows, using this method in networks with variable elevations still has many challenges. In this paper, by developing modified correlations as a computer code, the possibility of analyzing inclined pipelines has been evaluated. For validation and calibration, the results of MOC were compared with the results

The chemical characteristics of rainwater in the south-eastern region of Bangladesh were investigated in this study in addition to identifying the potential sources of different precipitation constituents, which have often been unexplored or not well covered in the literature. Rainwater pH, major ions and trace metals were measured in samples collected from five different locations with different land-use

Essential oils (EO) are volatile compounds with complex chemical compositions that are derived from the secondary metabolism of aromatic herbs. There are several applications of EO in the industrial and medical sectors. Basil (Ocimum sp.) is one of the most important EO-producing aromatic herbs. In this study, EO content (EOC) and linalool content (LC) in basil irrigated with reclaimed water were investigated

Abstract not available

The water sector has a major leadership role to play in addressing the global water crisis. How can it make the radical shifts in approach that are needed? This paper highlights the reality that the management of water, and the ways in which water flows are directed, reflects social relations of power, not just between human groups, but also between humankind and the non-human world. Drawing on in-depth

Automation is a collection of a whole set of theories and methods to make a system work automatically as intended, in our case the urban water supply system. A critical feature of automation is the feedback principle: a sensor is measuring a certain variable, e.g. a concentration; a computer tests that the measurement is valid; a computer algorithm calculates and decides what should be corrected; a

Water and sanitation services are critical for public health. The importance of these services is reflected in SDG 6 and the associated targets 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3. Much progress remains to be made to achieve these targets, but it is already becoming clear that greater ambition is needed. This paper looks at three global challenges: the need to increase the level of service to protect public health including

This paper shares a vision that sustainable water supply requires resilient water infrastructures which are presumably in the centralized control and decentralized execution (CCDE) mode with multiscale resilience. The CCDE should be planned based on the multiscale structure of water infrastructures, in which the systems are divided into a number of hierarchically organized subsystems. The CCDE allows

This article presents the evolving challenges and roles of our water resources in this contemporary world. First, water quality issues surrounding water supplies are discussed. Potential pathways to address the water quality challenges are presented, which include technological approaches for minimizing waste and enhancing resource recovery. Focused discussions on emerging global pollutants such as

The adverse effects of climate change on agriculture have been felt across the globe. Smallholder farmers in sub-Sahara Africa are particularly more vulnerable to the effects of climate change leading to loss of income and livelihood thus affecting global food security. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is emerging as a viable option to mitigate the negative effects of climate change by supporting rain-fed

In order to guarantee the safety of pumps, valves are installed at the outlet of each pump in long-distance pressurized water supply systems. However, water hammer pressure caused by improper valve closure can tremendously exceed the standard of the pipeline. In this paper, the effects of valve closure on speed of pump and pressure along the pipeline were investigated. Valve closure formula based on

There is limited information about the current state of intermittent water supply (IWS) systems at the global level. A survey was carried out by the Intermittent Water Supply Specialist Group of the International Water Association (IWA IWS SG) to better understand the current state of these systems and challenges that water companies may have faced under COVID-19 pandemic and to capture successful

Water loss in water distribution systems is one of the major problems faced by water utilities. The components of water losses should be accurately assessed and their priority should be determined. Generally, water balance analysis is used to quantify different components of water losses and identify the main contributor to high leakage rates. The leak flow rate is assumed to be static within a given

Drinking water treatment plants in the Great Lakes often protect their intake structures against dreissenid biofouling by prechlorinating when water temperatures exceed 12 °C. This temperature threshold is based on the reproduction characteristics of zebra mussels. However, in recent years, zebra mussels have largely given way to quagga mussels in the region. These mussels reportedly reproduce at temperatures

Most current water allocation strategies fail to address the unbalanced development among multiple systems. How to optimize the coordination development relationships among the social, economic and environmental systems has always been the focus. To bridge this gap, a water optimal allocation model for coordinated development was innovatively constructed and applied to the main stream of the Xiangjiang

Carbon dot (CD)-modified graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) photocatalysts were synthesized through a one-step homogeneous thermal pyrolysis. The synergetic effect of citric acid (Cit) and g-C3N4/CDs for high-performance visible light Cr(VI) photocatalytic reduction had been investigated. Cit was not only acted as a hole scavenger, but might also form surface charge transfer complexes (CTC) with g-C3N4

The increased demand for textile products leads to an increase in the quantity of wastewater discharged. It becomes indeed one of the most critical health and environmental problems in the world. The main challenge, therefore, is to develop innovative techniques for treating this wastewater with low production costs and better efficiency. The major objective of this work was to investigate the efficiency

The method of electrical resistivity has proven very effective in the evaluation of groundwater. This specialized technique uses Dar-Zarrouk (D-Z) parameters in the estimation of longitudinal unit conductance, transverse unit resistance, and longitudinal resistivity to examine the groundwater level, to distinguish the fresh, brackish, and saline water interface, and to assess the storage capacity of

By analyzing and comparing the pressurized-pot microfiltration (MF) system and the ultrafiltration membrane as the pretreatment technology of the nanofiltration (NF) system through pilot testing, the research demonstrates the feasibility of combined technology of NF with pressurized-pot MF for the practical application in engineering. The testing result indicates that the combined technology performs

The conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water (GW-SW) resources has grown worldwide. Optimal conjunctive water use can be planned by coupling hydrologic models for the simulation of water systems with optimization techniques for improving management strategies. The coupling of simulation and optimization methods constitutes an effective approach to determine sustainable management strategies

This paper presents a fast simulation model for predicting the dynamic response of a motor-pump system to startup event. The purpose is to analyze the effect of the impeller acceleration time, the final flow rate and the impeller geometry on the pump transient flow during starting operations. The motor speed and torque variations were predicted by simulating the transient law of the three-phase induction

This study analyses the industrial demand for urban water using a panel dataset of firms operating in the city of Zaragoza (Spain) and looking at three sectors (manufacturing, construction and services) disaggregated on 24 subsectors. Evidence in favour of using the marginal price rather than the average price is obtained, and the selection of the price is found to influence the value of the elasticities

Among the many factors affecting water supply system failures are the weather conditions that change over the year. Since this is an important research issue, as part of this study, investigation of water supply system failure seasonality by the selected statistical approaches was presented. The basis of the research was monthly number of the pipelines' failures from the multi-year period of 2007–2017

Three novel thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration membranes are prepared using an ultrafiltration membrane (UFM) of organic polymer resin polyacrylonitrile followed by a mineralization process. The UFM was hydrolyzed (H-UFM) and then transferred in dopamine (DA) and tris buffer (TRIS) solutions. DA–TRIS coating is further favorable for the growth of nanoparticles (NPs), titania (TiO2), and zirconia

Microcystis spp. is the most common and problematic species during cyanobacterial bloom. This study employed Microcystis aeruginosa for coagulation experiments. Effects of polyaluminum chloride (PAC), cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM), and pH value on cyanobacterial removal at exponential and decline phases by coagulation were investigated by measuring chlorophyll a. A mathematical model between factors

In the current study, several soft-computing methods including artificial neural networks (ANNs), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), gene expression programming (GEP), and hybrid wavelet theory-GEP (WGEP) are used for modeling the groundwater's electrical conductivity (EC) variable. Hence, the groundwater samples from three sources (deep well, semi-deep well, and aqueducts), located in

This work aims to study the seasonal fluctuation in physicochemical characteristics, trophic status, and some pollutants influencing phytoplankton diversity, and water quality at a compact Kafr El-Shinawy drinking-water treatment plant, Damietta – Egypt seasonally during 2018. Phytoplankton distribution was affected by the trophic status of water, level of pollutants, and physicochemical treatment

The city of Assa is located in a Saharian area characterized by an arid climate and water scarcity. Like any other Saharian city in a developing country, the city is facing the challenges of rapid urbanization and the need to improve wastewater treatment and management. The main objective of this work is to assess the performance of waste stabilization ponds in an arid area. This evaluation concerns

The present study involved the combined applications of advanced techniques and tools like remote sensing, geographic informatic system (GIS), electrical resistivity, MCDA, to assess the potential zones of groundwater occurrence. Several prepared thematic layers, including geology, geomorphology, rainfall, lineament, land use land cover (LULC), drainage density, soil type, slope, and soil texture,

Together with climate change, rising living standards throughout the world have put pressure on existing freshwater sources and increased global water scarcity. The reclaimed wastewater projects face obstacles in sustainable implementation. This paper reviews Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal (PESTEL) factors that act as barriers to the successful implementation of

Water, energy, and food are primary resources on which human life is dependent. This paper presents a review of the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus considering the environmental impacts generated by humans' reliance on water, energy, and food for their subsistence. Our review assesses the WEF with respect to the agricultural, industrial, and urban sectors and their use of water, energy, and food. The

The inline or branching water hammer control strategies, which are based on the insertion of compound plastic short-penstock or inline section at the transient-induced region of main pipes, illustrated a promising ability to upgrade steel pipe-based hydraulic systems concerning the extension of admissible pressure level. In this respect, prior results suggested that the specific layout utilizing an

An issue regarding near-optimal solutions identified by evolutionary algorithms (EAs) is that their absolute deviations from the global optima are often unknown, and hence an EA's performance in handling real-world problems remains unclear. To this end, this paper investigates how close optimal solutions from simple EAs can approach the global optimal for water distribution system (WDS) design problems

One of the challenges in urban stormwater management is to identify a suitable stormwater management method which will be socially, technologically and economically viable. In this paper, a study on the effectiveness of decentralized and interconnected percolation ponds as a stormwater harvesting technology, for a partially urbanized (semi-urban) catchment is presented. When applied to a case study

In many areas of the world, rainwater has been collected and consumed by people. Our research aims to assess the use of rainwater and the impact of operation and maintenance activities of the rainwater system on drinking water quality in rural areas where there is no access to a public drinking water system. Through the questionnaire, direct visits, interviews and sampling of water at surveyed households

This study presents a method to determine the operation of the measuring equipment by analyzing the metrological quality and degradation of accuracy, depending on the accumulated volume and the installation time. Different types of counters at three flow rates were tested to assess the evolution of the relative error and to determine the average error curves and rate of deterioration. The volume of

Efficient water-saving appliances are an essential part of changing water consumption toward a more sustainable future. Unlike previous studies, this research focuses on egoistic and altruistic values as determinants of consumers' willingness to buy efficient water-saving appliances. In this study, a convenient sampling technique was used to solicit data from 308 potential consumers. Using a two-step

The water pollution emission inventory is a fundamental decision-making tool that links emissions and water quality. However, accurately quantifying the emissions is challenging, due to the variety of contributing sources, complexity of methods for calibration and validation, and lack of moderate spatio-temporal resolution. Over the last two decades, tremendous efforts have been made to improve the

Activated carbon/CuO (AC/CuO) composites were prepared through a facile one-step hydrothermal method and used as a bifunctional material for adsorption and catalysis degradation of bisphenol A (BPA). The composite was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The obtained AC/CuO exhibited excellent adsorption

In the long-distance water supply system, the air tank can effectively protect the water hammer when the pump stops, and the shape parameters of the air tank determine the protective effect. Based on the theory of rigid water body and harmonic vibration, this paper derived the calculation formulas for the surge and bottom pressure changing process of the air tank in the system with and without friction

This study investigated a novel method for increasing desalinated water mass in solar desalination plants. For this purpose, solar panels and a cylindrical parabolic collector (CPC) were used to raise basin water temperature. The effect of different components of basin solar still on freshwater mass was also investigated. The aluminum basin has been associated with maximum water desalination among

Microcystin-LR (MC-LR) removals linked with empty bed contact time (EBCT), temperature and backwash strategies are important for biologically active filter (BAF) application but remain not entirely clear. In addition, there is still a lack of understanding about the bio-regeneration of MC-LR adsorption capacity in a BAF. This study examined MC-LR removals by a granular activated carbon-biologically

Plastic material pipes such as high- or low-density polyethylene (HDPE or LDPE) are increasingly used in new or renewed water supply systems. Therefore, analysis of water hammer surge-waves initiated into such piping systems deserves investigation. The 1-D pressurized-pipe flow model embedding the Ramos formulation was used to describe the flow behavior in the elastic and plastic pipe-based hydraulic

The main source of drinking water for rural communities in India is rainwater harvesting ponds. These ponds do have a sand filtration system for turbidity removal, but the bacteriological quality of these ponds is not under compliance in most cases. In this context, Pattikadu village in Kancheepuram District (Tamil Nadu, South India) was chosen as the study area. It was observed that the biological

This paper presents the outcomes of research on managerial decisions that were made as a first reaction to the economic crisis caused by the SARS-Cov-19 virus (the coronacrisis). The research was carried out among 116 companies from the water supply sector operating in Poland that includes water supply and sewage. The results indicate which elements were perceived by managers as key factors for survival

Prechlorination is the most common strategy for zebra and quagga mussel control in drinking water treatment plant intakes in the Great Lakes region. Although effective and inexpensive, chlorine can form regulated disinfection byproducts. Two potential alternatives to prechlorination were evaluated for mussel control: peracetic acid (PAA) and EarthTec QZ, a copper-based product. Pilot-scale experiments

Ammonium contamination in water is a major concern worldwide. This study focuses on the removal of ammonium from aqueous solution by batch adsorption experiments using biochar derived from a combination of various wood chips (spruce, pine, and fir). Adsorption characteristics of ammonium onto biochar were evaluated as a function of biochar dosages, initial concentrations of ammonium, contact time and

Automation and real-time control have long been used in urban wastewater systems. However, there is a critical need to review how real-time control contributes to sustainable water management. This review provides a systematic review of the role of real-time control towards creating a sustainable wastewater system. This review identifies the social, economic and environmental pillars of sustainability

Given the continuous aging of pipeline infrastructure buried underground, water utilities need to make a strategic plan on how to maintain the entire water distribution systems (WDSs) to ensure the required standard of supply. This paper investigates the nexus of three key factors that have a significant impact on the decision-making process of the rehabilitation plan for WDSs. The factors considered

Serving as the last barrier to secure drinking water safety, household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) is perceived as an interim measure for removing pathogens from drinking water and reducing disease risk. In recent years, the application of HWTS has shown a growing trend, and its performance in controlling chemicals has also received much attention. Disinfection by-products (DBPs) are formed

Effective flood risk management strategies require a detailed understanding of the source, extent and impact of flooding. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) enable detailed and accurate data collection that can be used to determine flood source, extent, impact and the presence of property level flood resistance measures. This paper draws on the practical experience of the authors including the use of

As we rapidly modify the environment around us, researchers have a critical role to play in raising our understanding of the interactions between people and the world in which they live. Knowledge and understanding of these interactions are essential for evidence based decision-making on resource use and risk management. In this paper, we explore three research case studies that illustrate co-evolution