CCWI2017: F82 'Integrated Treatment Plant and Distribution Network Models to Predict the Drinking Water Quality from Source to Tap'

An accurate and real-time prediction of the water quantity and quality inside drinking water treatment plants is paramount to a more efficient and stable operation and can be utilized to proactively inform customers about changes in the delivered water quality. Although multiple attempts have been done to create real-time simulations of complete treatment plants, up until now the influence of residence time inside the pipes and treatment processes was ignored. In groundwater treatment, however, due to often long transport pipes between the well fields and the plant, the residence time is of significant influence. Therefore, a new modelling approach linking hydraulic simulations using EPANET with chemical calculations using PHREEQC was developed and validated for the small-scale groundwater treatment plant of Hoenderloo. By connecting the model of the treatment plant to a model of its distribution network a real time prediction of the delivered water quality, tracing packages of water all the way from the source wells to the customer tap, can be made.