A complete digital water experience to support real leakage management planning

Abstract In the next years digital transition of Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) will represent a long-standing challenge for triggering innovations in the WDNs management tasks. The ongoing impulse for innovation, boosted also by the economic resources for post-pandemic recovery, is opening novel opportunities for technicians and researchers in the context of Digital Water. This work reports the key steps where novel concepts and tools of Digital Water have been used to support consultant companies in designing WDN leakage management actions in a real WDN managed by Acquedotto Pugliese, in Southern Italy. The Digital Water Services (DWSs) were used to support key phases of the workflow, including validation of topological data and integration of georeferenced connection to private properties; calibration of advanced hydraulic model exploiting mass-balance in pressure-driven analysis; the application of strategies for DMA design and pressure control; and the planning of pipe rehabilitation. WDNetXL platform was used to develop WDN Digital Twin and exploit the DWSs. Applying the Digital Water experience to multiple WDNs managed by the same provider also enabled planning the best courses of actions accounting for investments vs. expected leakage reduction at global scale.