NeatWork: A Tool for the Design of Gravity-Driven Water Distribution Systems for Poor Rural Communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Babonneau ◽  
Gilles Corcos ◽  
Laurent Drouet ◽  
Jean-Philippe Vial
Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilker Telci ◽  
Mustafa Aral

Micro hydropower generators (micro turbines), are used to recover excess energy from hydraulic systems and these applications have important potential in renewable energy production. One of the most viable environments for the use of micro turbines is the water distribution network where, by design, there is always excess energy since minimum pressures are to be maintained throughout the system, and the system is designed to meet future water supply needs of a planning period. Under these circumstances, maintaining the target pressures is not an easy task due to the increasing complexity of the water distribution network to supply future demands. As a result, pressures at several locations of the network tend to be higher than the required minimum pressures. In this paper, we outline a methodology to recover this excess energy using smart operation management and the best placement of micro turbines in the system. In this approach, the best micro turbine locations and their operation schedule is determined to recover as much available excess energy as possible from the water distribution network while satisfying the current demand for water supply and pressure. Genetic algorithms (GAs) are used to obtain optimal solutions and a “smart seeding” approach is developed to improve the performance of the GA. The Dover Township pump-driven water distribution system in New Jersey, United States of America (USA) was selected as the study area to test the proposed methodology. This pump-driven network was also converted into a hypothetical gravity-driven network to observe the differences between the energy recovery potential of the pump-driven and gravity-driven systems. The performance of the energy recovery system was evaluated by calculating the equivalent number of average American homes that can be fed by the energy produced and the resulting carbon-dioxide emission reductions that may be achieved. The results show that this approach is an effective tool for applications in renewable energy production in water distribution systems for small towns such as Dover Township. It is expected that, for larger water distribution systems with high energy usage, the energy recovery potential will be much higher.


WRPMD'99 ◽  
1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Costa ◽  
A. Esposito ◽  
C. Gualtieri ◽  
D. Pianese ◽  
G. Pulci Doria ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Mietek A. Brdys ◽  
Kazimierz Duzinkiewicz ◽  
Michal Grochowski ◽  
Tomasz Rutkowski

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 187-191
Author(s):  
M.M. Critchley ◽  
N.J. Cromar ◽  
H.J. Fallowfield

Biofilms have been extensively characterised within drinking water distribution systems. However, the significance of materials on biofilm species diversity is not established. This study investigated the community composition of biofilms on plumbing materials receiving filtered and unfiltered water supplies. Biofilms were extracted from polybutylene, polyethylene, cross-linked polyethylene, unplasticised polyvinyl chloride and copper tubes in sampling rigs receiving Murray-Onkaparinga water before or after filtration. Biofilms were extracted and analysed for fatty acid composition using the FAME™ methodology. There were differences in the fatty acid profiles of biofilms and the respective water supplies, indicating differences in the attached and planktonic communities. The results also showed significant differences in the fatty acid profiles of biofilms on the polymer materials compared to copper, suggesting variations in biofilm populations on the different materials. The potential for materials to select for microbial populations has significant implications for the ecology of drinking water biofilms.


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