THE WATERMET² TOOL

WaterMet2 was developed using latest, state-of-the-art methods available, it has been tested / demonstrated on multiple real-life case studies, has a user friendly interface and is reasonably well documented. Also, the people who developed the tool are approachable and likely to assist in solving specific problems.

The WaterMet2 tool (where ‘Met’ stands for both metropolitan and metabolism hence square) was developed with the aim to address the issues related to a number of challenges that existing urban water systems (UWS) are facing. Examples include future population growth (natural and/or for immigration reasons), rapidly
ageing infrastructure and climate change. A need was identified for a tool that can assist with the long-term planning of urban water systems given these and other future uncertainties. More specifically, a need was identified for a tool that can help with strategic level of planning in an integrated way and with focus on sustainability type issues. The existing, physically based modelling tools lack sustainability focus, cannot evaluate things in an integrated way and are usually costly to build, calibrate and maintain.

How exactly does the tool assist in the management of urban water system? Who benefits from the tool?

The tool enables water utilities, urban planners, researchers and other interested people to simulate different potential, simple and complex future system modifications (i.e. intervention strategies) and then evaluate their costing and impact on the long-term UWS performance. For example, the tool could be used to compare the effect of introducing new water sources (i.e. increasing supply) to reducing demand via smart water metering (leading to reduced consumption) and/or increased pipe rehabilitation rate (leading to , among other things, reduced leakage). Note that all this can be done for a range of different scenarios, e.g. population growth (affecting demand) and climate change (affecting both demand and supply).

Can it be applied to any situation/end-user?

The tool can be used to address a wide range of issues in different circumstances providing that the user is able to clearly define the problem, build a suitable representation of the analyzed urban water system and provide relevant data. The tool has been applied so far to the urban water system of a large city in Norway with focus on addressing the long-term supply/demand balance, to Reggio Emilia in Italy with focus on addressing the energy related issues, to the city of Kiran in Iran with focus on addressing the depleting groundwater resources and to two towns in the Galapagos islands with focus on addressing the issues related to inadequate intermittent water supply in these towns.

My water utility is running well and everything is under control and working. Why should I use the tool nonetheless?

The fact that your water utility is delivering the good service today does not mean that this will automatically be the case in the future. If water consumption increases in the future due to population growth or climate change and the system delivery capacity reduces due to ageing infrastructure things may change and your service provider will have to do something to address these issues. This is where WaterMet2 tool becomes handy.

You can download a version of tool for research purposes on the TRUST website (http://www.trust-i.net/downloads/index.php?iddesc=140). The PDF can be found there as well (http://www.trust-i.net/downloads/index.php?iddesc=137). If you have any questions regarding the tool, please contact Professor Zoran Kapelan
directly: [e-mail].

Schlüsselbegriffe

• Long-term planning
• DSS
• water metabolism
• urban water systems

Länder

Germany, Italy, Norway, United Kingdom