The knowledge of water levels and discharges in urban drainage and stormwater management (UDSM) systems is of key importance to understand their functioning and processes, to evaluate their performance, and to provide data for modelling. In this chapter, devoted mainly to underground combined and separate sewer pipe systems, various methods and technologies are described and discussed. After an introduction to important aspects to deal with when measuring discharges in sewer systems, the following parts are presented successively: (i) measurement of water level with rulers, and pressure, ultrasonic and radar sensors, (ii) measurement of flow velocity with ultrasonic, Doppler, velocity profiler, free surface, and electromagnetic sensors, (iii) direct measurement of discharge with pre-calibrated devices, physical scale models, computational fluid dynamics modelling and use of pumping stations, and (iv) detection and/or measurement of infiltration into and exfiltration from sewers, with flow or pressure measurements, tracer experiments, distributed temperature sensing and geophysical methods.@en

Sectorization of a water distribution network (WDN) into district metered areas (DMAs) is a proven solution for proactive leakage control. Traditionally, WDN sectorization is conducted by local experts using a trial-and-error approach, often resulting in the identification of arbitrary solutions. Some recently published methods try to improve WDN sectorization by automating the process, especially by using optimization. Various sectorization criteria, constraints, and limitations are introduced, which often fail to consider the issues faced by poorly managed WDNs such as limited funds and shortage of water balance data. These methods also have poor computational efficiency imposed by optimization methods used. This paper presents a new distribution network sectorization method (DeNSE), that overcomes these deficiencies. This method is based on a heuristic procedure in which WDN sectorization is driven by efficient tracking of water balance data and determining the lowest cost investment needed to maintain the same level of operational performance. The above-mentioned set of criteria is particularly well suited for initial sectorization of WDNs when major uncertainties in water balance data often lead to poor management decisions. The DeNSE method is validated and benchmarked against other sectorization methodologies in a case study of a large, real-world WDN. The results show that DeNSE can identify sound, realistic sectorization solutions that are in some respects better than corresponding solutions reported in the literature. DeNSE also enables high computational efficiency, ensuring its applicability to real-world WDNs.@en

Different methods have been developed in the past to formulate and solve steady-state hydraulics of a water distribution system (WDS). The most widely used method nowadays is probably the global gradient algorithm (GGA). The loop-flow method (also known as the ΔQ method) represents a viable alternative to GGA, especially when combined with suitably preprocessed network data. The main advantage of the ΔQ method over the GGA is in the smaller number of unknowns to solve for, which is coming from the fact that real WDSs typically have far less loops than nodes. A new loop-flow-type method, relying on the novel triangulation based loops identification algorithm (TRIBAL) that was implemented in the corresponding new hydraulic solver (ΔQ), is presented in this paper (TRIBAL-ΔQ). The new method aims to exploit this advantage, while overcoming key drawbacks of existing ΔQ methods. The performance of the TRIBAL- ΔQ-based solver is compared with the GGA-based solver on four large real networks of different complexity and topology. The results obtained demonstrate that, despite requiring an increased number of iterations to converge, the TRIBAL-ΔQ method-based solver is substantially computationally faster, has slightly better numerical stability, and is equally accurate in making predictions when compared with the GGA-based hydraulic solver.@en