Analysis, Evaluation and Optimization of Infrastructures Serving Water Systems

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, the natural water cycle has significantly been affected by climate change, overexploitation, and pollution. A preeminent critical standpoint in the use of water resources is the efficient and economic management of infrastructures serving water systems, which should limit the operational costs and efficiency, providing economic and environmental benefits.

In this field, in urban centers, complex infrastructures and governance systems to manage water resources are available. Water infrastructures allow us to receive supply from groundwater, connect distant sources, distribute water resources to end-users, and drain and treat them. Local climate patterns, along with the legacies of existing systems, reveal how cities are able to meet the evolving water supply challenges. Increasingly, urban water planners look at hybrid models of infrastructure, designing systems that integrate centralized and distributed configurations, also connecting water sources with varying quality with appropriate end-uses. Simulation and optimization models assist in planning all aspects of these systems. Most urban water models simulate processes at hourly or daily intervals, suitable for water quality assessments, distribution system demand, and stormwater operations. The water system should be therefore intended as a complex system, composed of interconnected parts. Thus, the resource has to be considered as a whole, with infrastructure systems needing to be properly planned to preserve the water resources and make their use sustainable for the environment. The management and use of the resource should be organized in an integrated infrastructure system, including the water uptake, distribution, disposal, and treatment. These infrastructures need significant investments, being designed for long periods of service. Thus, the need to implement and apply rational approaches for water system design and management represents a pivotal topic in the field of water resource use, devoted to both developing innovative technical procedures and limiting the economic and sustainable impacts on the environment. Technological improvements in the management of hydraulic systems are directed at the achievement of a maximum benefit with minimum costs.

With this aim, the present Special Issue is mainly devoted to scientific and technical works on the:

• Adaptation strategies and management of infrastructures serving water systems;
• Technical innovations in water works design and management;
• On-field applications of innovative water planning, design, management approaches;
• Experimental, theoretical and numerical modelling of infrastructures serving water systems;
• Optimization models and techniques for pressure regulation;
• Multicriteria approaches for water systems assessment;
• Small-scale hydropower generation in water systems;
• Best management practices for water supply, distribution, and sewer systems.

Prof. Francesco De Paola
Dr. Francesco Pugliese
Guest Editors

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• Water systems
• Water management
• Optimization
• Water distribution networks
• Urban drainage systems
• Pressure regulation