Sectorization is an effective technique for reducing the complexities of analyzing and managing of water systems. The resulting sectors, called district metering areas (DMAs), are expected to meet some requirements and performance criteria such as minimum number of intervention, pressure uniformity, similarity of demands, water quality and number of districts. An efficient methodology to achieve all these requirements together and the proper choice of a criteria governing the sectorization is one of the open questions about optimal DMAs design. This question is addressed in this research by highlighting the advantages of three different criteria when applied to real-word water distribution networks (WDNs). To this, here it is presented a two-stage approach for optimal design of DMAs. The first stage, the clustering of the system, is based on a Louvain-type greedy algorithm for the generalized modularity maximization. The second stage, the physical dividing of the system, is stated as a two-objective optimization problem that utilises the SMOSA version of simulated annealing for multiobjective problems. One objective is the number of isolation valves whereas for the second objective three different performance indices (PIs) are analyzed and compared: (a) standard deviation, (b) Gini coefficient and (c) loss of resilience. The methodology is applied to two real case studies where the first two PIs are optimized to address similar demands among DMAs. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is effective for sectorization into independent DMAs with similar demands. Surprisingly, it found that for the real studied systems, loss of resilience achieves better performance for each district in terms of pressure uniformity and demand similarity than the other two specific performance criteria.@en

Sectorization is a wide used technique that reduces the complexities associated with the analysis and management of drinking water networks. The districts resulting from sectorization are expected to meet certain performance criteria, such as the minimum number of interventions, uniformity in pressures, and similarity in demands, among others. Developing a methodology for optimal district design that meets some of these requirements is an significant challenge. In this work, the advantages in the use of three different criteria are compared. To this, a two-stage approach is presented. The first stage, the communities detection, is based on a Louvain-type algorithm for the maximization of modularity in weighted networks. The second stage, the physical division of the system, is posed as a two-objective optimization problem using a simulated annealing algorithm. The first of these objectives is the number of isolation valves, while for the second objective three different indices are studied: (a) Loss off resilience,(b) Gini coefficient and (c) Standard deviation, the last two are defined to quantify pressures uniformity. The methodology is applied to real study case: a medium-sized network.@en

The pressure control in water distribution networks represents one of the main foundations to achieve an effective policy in the management of background leakages. Dividing the network into district meter areas is a useful strategy to simplify the analysis and management of these hydraulic systems. In this work, a two-stage methodology for pressure control is proposed. In a first stage, the network sectorization is obtained by maximizing the index of modularity for weighted networks. The design variables are the valve positions that delimit the desingned districts. In the second stage, the optimal operating conditions of the valves are determined by minimizing the standard deviation of the network pressures. The proposed methodology is applied to an academic network and proves to be efficient to achieve the reduction of peak pressures.@en

The pressure control in water distribution networks represents one of the main foundations to achieve an effective policy in the management of background leakages. Dividing the network into district meter areas is a useful strategy to simplify the analysis and management of these hydraulic systems. In this work, a two-stage methodology for pressure control is proposed. In a first stage, the network sectorization is obtained by maximizing the index of modularity for weighted networks. The design variables are the valve positions that delimit the desingned districts. In the second stage, the optimal operating conditions of the valves are determined by minimizing the standard deviation of the network pressures. The proposed methodology is applied to an academic network and proves to be efficient to achieve the reduction of peak pressures.@en

The pressure control in water distribution networks represents one of the main foundations to achieve an effective policy in the management of background leakages. Dividing the network into district meter areas is a useful strategy to simplify the analysis and management of these hydraulic systems. In this work, a two-stage methodology for pressure control is proposed. In a first stage, the network sectorization is obtained by maximizing the index of modularity for weighted networks. The design variables are the valve positions that delimit the desingned districts. In the second stage, the optimal operating conditions of the valves are determined by minimizing the standard deviation of the network pressures. The proposed methodology is applied to an academic network and proves to be efficient to achieve the reduction of peak pressures.@en