Water Distribution systems have been a vital part of any ancient civilization and continue to be so, in the current times. These systems have a very long and rich history dating back to the third millennium B.C. Advances in water supply and distribution were made in tandem with discoveries and inventions in other congruent disciplines.
The evolution of early civilizations has mainly been around sources of abundant water, a natural water source or a public water supply system. As the survival of the early Humans was partly due to their ability to use tools and fit in natural resources to help meet our needs, it was critical for settlements to have access to a reliable source of water, not just for growing food, but also for drinking and sanitation.
Ancient Technologies The earliest attempts to distribute water across a distance was in the hillsides of northwest Persia. Slightly sloping tunnels called Qanats used gravity to force the water down the lines of the distribution system. This method was used throughout the region for thousands of years and in the recent times in Tehran, Iran. The Roman Aqueduct was probably the most famous water distribution system of ancient times. These fascinating structures moved water over 20 miles to Rome from springs in the Anio Valley. The longest structure is actually 57 miles long because of the meandering path designed to maintain a constant supply of water.
The Roman aqueduct was a channel used to transport fresh water to densely populated areas. Aqueducts were amazing feats of engineering given the era in which they were built. Though the earlier civilizations in Egypt and India also built aqueducts, the Romans improved on the structure and built an extensive and complex network across their territories. Ancient aqueducts remain in parts of modern-day France, Spain, Greece, North Africa, and Turkey.
Aqueducts required a great deal of planning. They were made from a series of pipes, tunnels, canals, and bridges. Gravity and the natural slope of the land allowed aqueducts to channel water from a freshwater source, such as a lake or spring, to a city. As water flowed into the cities, it was used for drinking, irrigation, and to supply hundreds of public fountains and baths.
Distribution of Water Supply After getting water from its source to a city, a water supply distribution system was deemed necessary to provide on-demand water access to residents of our ancient cities, much as it is in the present times. Channels were cut from stone, brick, rubble, and ancient concrete. Some of the first known piping systems were made of wood, but there is also evidence of pipes made from clay and lead. As civilizations rose and fell and new societies came into being, so did the history of water distribution change from time to time. The water distribution networks are generically exhaustive system of pipes, pumps, tanks, reservoirs, and other related amenities. A massive capital along with engineering expertise is therefore required to setup the distribution system. As power changed hands in the ancient civilizations, the quality of the systems improved or deteriorated. But one thing that gradually grew and took shape was the engineering acumen of the designing, planning and execution of such systems. This led to entrepreneurs and inventors testing new materials for strength and fluid transportation properties, and the result was cast-iron pipes in the beginning of the 19th century. These new pipes could maintain their integrity under intense pressure over the entire length of the lines. The dream of fresh, clean drinking water in the homes of each family was finally a reality.
In the current times, a real-time approach to handling uncertainties associated with the long-term planning of water distribution system development is a serious field of study. Furthermore, optimizing a flexible eco-friendly design of water distribution systems for an extended life horizon is a goal demanded by the already strained reserve of our natural resources. As the global population continues to grow and our water sources diminish, the challenge to minimize wastage and maximize output through a well-planned system needs a serious consideration. The battle for water has led to various political turmoil through the annals of history and its time we learnt to share our resources through intelligent planning, sustainable design and meticulous execution.
Digitalization as an option.
The use of software, mining, and simulation of data to create good- for- execution engineering schemes are the present offerings of modern technology. Using advanced techniques not only minimizes chances of errors, wastage, or mishaps, they also optimize the use of our natural resources by maintaining the right quantum of design parameters like pressure, velocity, viscosity etc. Water is a Newtonian fluid with low viscosity hence a small change in stress can lead to great degrees of angular deformation. This assumes greater importance when laying schemes for large spans and areas with stringent environmental and quality norms, are proposed.
WaterGEMS from Bentley Systems is built on such considerations and aims towards offering an optimized, well calibrated solution for the preliminary design, fire flow analysis, pump selection, troubleshooting, emergency planning and energy management of Water Distribution Systems.
WaterGEMS is built with the understanding that collecting water related data that is synchronous with the demands and requirements is extremely difficult given that the physical and dynamic properties of water are functions of several parameters. With WaterGEMS therefore, the idea is to provide solutions at levels that would improve the functionalities of the bigger network rather than look at the entire network and micromanage the distribution performances.
From the user’s perspective therefore, WaterGEMS is a hydraulic modeling application for water distribution systems with advanced interoperability, geospatial model building, optimization, and asset management tools.
From fire flow and constituent concentration analyses to energy consumption and capital cost management, WaterGEMS provides an easy-to-use environment for engineers to analyze, design, and optimize water distribution systems.
The software is available at Get Software - Unplug your limitless possibilities (bentley.com) with permission provided to students and educators from registered universities to download and put the software to good use. Exhaustive training on the software is available through the page at Get Training - Your infrastructure journey starts here (bentley.com) to learn and experiment.
Our other product, the SewerGEMS runs much on the same lines as WaterGEMS. Engineers use OpenFlows SewerGEMS to analyze, design, and operate sanitary and combined sewer systems. The engine is especially suited for combined sewer systems where the hydrology of direct runoff into the collection system must be modeled. OpenFlows SewerGEMS can be run in Esri ArcGIS, AutoCAD, MicroStation, or as a stand-alone application.
Discussions on the OpenFlows | Water Infrastructure - Bentley Communities platform can help understand the variety of problems that users face while designing water and waste water distribution systems. Queries related to WaterGEMS and SewerGEMS can also be raised on this platform.
We, Humans can be forgiven for waging wars over our natural water reserves in the past. However, it would be absurd if the same continues in the present era of digitization and digitalization. The least we can do is, be considerate of our eco-system and minimize our footprints. May be our planet could just get lucky with a bit of smart thinking!
Hoping that we would have water and water everywhere with lots of it to drink!
Till we meet again,
Take care, stay hydrated!