Scientific Results

This catalogue is obtained by conducting a systematic literature review of scientific studies and reviews related to monitoring, forecasting, and simulating the inland water cycle. The analysis maps scientific expertise across research groups and classifies findings by the type of inland water studied, application focus, and geographical scope. A gap analysis will identify missing research areas and assess their relevance to policymaking.

ID ▲ Type Year Authors Title Venue/Journal DOI Research type Water System Technical Focus Abstract Link with Projects Link with Tools Related policies ID
publications-4051 article 2015 Gavanelli, Marco and Gavanelli, Marco and Nonato, Maddalena and Nonato, Maddalena and Peano, Andrea and Peano, Andrea and Alvisi, Stefano and Alvisi, Stefano and Franchini, Marco and Franchini, Marco Scheduling countermeasures to contamination events by genetic algorithms Ai Communications 10.3233/aic-140638 This paper heuristically tackles a challenging scheduling problem arising in the field of hydraulic distribution systems in case of a contamination event, that is, optimizing the scheduling of a set of tasks so that the consumed volume of contaminated water is minimized. Each task consists of manually activating a given device, located on the hydraulic network of the water distribution system. In practice, once contamination has been detected, a given number of response teams move along the network to operate each device on site. The consumed volume of contaminated water depends on the time at which each device is operated, according to complex hydraulic laws, so that the value associated to each schedule must be evaluated by a hydraulic simulation.We explore the potentials of Genetic Algorithms as a viable tool for tackling this optimization-simulation problem. We compare different encodings and propose ad hoc crossover operators that exploit the combinatorial structure of the feasible region, featuring hybridization with Mixed Integer Linear Programming.Extensive computational results are provided for a real life hydraulic network of average size, showing the effectiveness of the approach. Indeed, we greatly improve upon common sense inspired solutions which are commonly adopted in practice.
publications-4052 article 2015 Nikolic, Vladimir M. and Nikolic, Vladimir V. and Nikolic, Vladimir V. and Simonović́, Slobodan P. and Simonovic, Slobodan P. Multi-method Modeling Framework for Support of Integrated Water Resources Management Environmental Processes 10.1007/s40710-015-0082-6 The contemporary definition of integrated water resources management (IWRM) is introduced to promote a holistic approach in water engineering practices. IWRM deals with planning, design and operation of complex systems in order to control the quantity, quality, temporal and spatial distribution of water with the main objective of meeting human and ecological needs and providing protection from water related disasters. This paper examines the existing decision making support in IWRM practice, analyses the advantages and limitations of existing tools, and, as a result, suggests a generic multi-method modeling framework that has the main goal to capture all structural complexities of, and interactions within, a water resources system. Since the traditional tools do not provide sufficient support, this framework uses multi-method simulation technique to examine the codependence between water resources system and socioeconomic environment. Designed framework consists of (i) a spatial database, (ii) a traditional process-based model to represent the physical environment and changing conditions, and (iii) an agent-based spatially explicit model of socio-economic environment. The multi-agent model provides for building virtual complex systems composed of autonomous entities, which operate on local knowledge, possess limited abilities, affect and are affected by local environment, and thus, enact the desired global system behavior. Agent-based model is used in the presented work to analyze spatial dynamics of complex physical-social-economic-biologic systems. Based on the architecture of the generic multi-method modeling framework, an operational model for the Upper Thames River basin, Southwestern Ontario, Canada, is developed in cooperation with the local conservation authority. Six different experiments are designed by combining three climate and two socio-economic scenarios to analyze spatial dynamics of a complex physical-social-economic system of the Upper Thames River basin. Obtained results show strong dependence between changes in hydrologic regime, in this case surface runoff and groundwater recharge rates, and regional socio-economic activities.
publications-4053 article 2014 Davis, Michael and Davis, Michael J. and Davis, Michael J. and Janke, Robert and Janke, Robert and Magnuson, Matthew L. and Magnuson, Matthew L. A framework for estimating the adverse health effects of contamination events in water distribution systems and its application. Risk Analysis 10.1111/risa.12107 Intentional or accidental releases of contaminants into a water distribution system (WDS) have the potential to cause significant adverse health effects among individuals consuming water from the system. A flexible analysis framework is presented here for estimating the magnitude of such potential effects and is applied using network models for 12 actual WDSs of varying sizes. Upper bounds are developed for the magnitude of adverse effects of contamination events in WDSs and evaluated using results from the 12 systems. These bounds can be applied in cases in which little system†specific information is available. The combination of a detailed, network†specific approach and a bounding approach allows consequence assessments to be performed for systems for which varying amounts of information are available and addresses important needs of individual utilities as well as regional or national assessments. The approach used in the analysis framework allows contaminant injections at any or all network nodes and uses models that (1) account for contaminant transport in the systems, including contaminant decay, and (2) provide estimates of ingested contaminant doses for the exposed population. The approach can be easily modified as better transport or exposure models become available. The methods presented here provide the ability to quantify or bound potential adverse effects of contamination events for a wide variety of possible contaminants and WDSs, including systems without a network model.
publications-4054 article 2005 Klein, Kelly R. and Klein, Kelly R. and Rosenthal, Marjorie S. and Rosenthal, Marjorie S. and Klausner, Howard and Klausner, Howard A. Blackout 2003: preparedness and lessons learned from the perspectives of four hospitals. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 10.1017/s1049023x00002818 INTRODUCTION: The blackout in North America of August 2003 was one of the worst on record. It affected eight US states and parts of Canada for >24 hours. Additionally, two large US cities, Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio, suffered from a loss of water pressure and a subsequent ban on the use of public supplies of potable water that lasted four days. A literature review revealed a paucity of literature that describes blackouts and how they may affect the medical community. METHODS: This paper includes a review of after-action reports from four inner-city, urban hospitals supplemented accounts from the authors' hospital's emergency operations center (EOC). RESULTS: Some of the problems encountered, included: (1)lighting; (2) elevator operations; (3) supplies of water; (4) communication operations; (5) computer failure; (6) lack of adequate supplies of food; (7) mobility to obtain X-ray studies; (8) heating, air condition, and ventilation; (9) staffing; (10) pharmacy; (11) registration of patients; (12) hospital EOC; (13) loss of isolation facilities; (14) inadequate supplies of paper; (15) impaired ability to provide care for non-emergency patients; (16) sanitation; and (17) inadequate emergency power. DISCUSSION: The blackout of 2003 uncovered problems within the US hospital system, ranging from staffing to generator coverage. This report is a review of the effects that the blackout and water ban of 2003 had on hospitals in a large inner-city area. Also discussed are solutions utilized at the time and recommendations for the future. CONCLUSION: The blackout of 2003 was an excellent test of disaster/emergency planning, and produced many valuable lessons to be used in future events.
publications-4055 article 2015 Clark, Robert M. The USEPA's distribution system water quality modelling program: a historical perspective Water and Environment Journal 10.1111/wej.12132 Hydraulic and water quality models have become widely used to understand both the hydraulic behaviour, and the fate and transport of contaminants in drinking water distribution systems. Research conducted by the United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) played a major role in the development and application of hydraulic/water quality modelling in the United States and throughout the world. Eventually this research led to the development of EPANET, an integrated hydraulic/water quality model, and had a major influence on the implementation of the United States Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The modelling research conducted by the US EPA has helped many drinking water utilities throughout the world alleviate public health threats due to the deterioration of water quality in drinking water networks. The US EPA has provided over 100 000 downloads of the EPANET software over the last 2 years.
publications-4056 article 2014 DaloΔ_x009f_lu, Irem and DaloΔ_x009f_lu, Irem and Nassauer, Joan Iverson and Nassauer, Joan Iverson and Riolo, Rick L. and Riolo, Rick L. and Scavia, Donald and Scavia, Donald Development of a farmer typology of agricultural conservation behavior in the American Corn Belt Agricultural Systems 10.1016/j.agsy.2014.05.007
publications-4057 article 2007 Qiao, Jun and Qiao, Jianhong and Jeong, H. David and Jeong, David Hyung Seok and Lawley, Mark and Lawley, Mark and Richard, Jean‐Philippe P. and Richard, Jean-Philippe P. and Abraham, Dulcy M. and Abraham, Dulcy M. and Yih, Yuehwern and Yih, Yuehwern Allocating security resources to a water supply network Iie Transactions 10.1080/07408170600865400 This paper develops a method for allocating a security budget to a water supply network so as to maximize the network's resilience to physical attack. The method integrates max-min linear programming, hydraulic simulation, and genetic algorithms for constraint generation. The objective is to find a security allocation that maximizes an attacker's marginal cost of inflicting damage through the destruction of network components. We illustrate the method on two example networks, one large and one small, and investigate its allocation effectiveness and computational characteristics.
publications-4058 article 2013 Perelman, Lina and Ostfeld, Avi Bayesian Networks for Source Intrusion Detection Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management 10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0000288 AbstractBayesian belief networks are graphical probabilistic analysis tools for representing and analyzing problems involving uncertainty. The problem of monitoring the propagation of a contaminant in a water distribution system can be represented by using Bayesian networks (BNs). The presented methodology proposes the use of BN statistics to estimate the likelihood of the injection location of a contaminant and its propagation in the system. A clustering method, previously developed by the authors, is first applied to formulate a simplified representation of the distribution system based on nodal connectivity properties. Given evidence from clusters, information is combined through probabilistic inference using BNs to find the most likely source of contamination and its propagation in the network. The conditional independence assumptions with the BNs allow efficient calculation of the joint probabilities and diagnostic and predictive queries (e.g.,the most likely event given evidence or the probability ...
publications-4059 article 2008 Yang, Yue-Tzu and Yang, Y. Jeffrey and Goodrich, James A. and Goodrich, James A. and Clark, Robert M. and Clark, Robert M. and Li, Sylvana Y. and Li, Sylvana Y. Modeling and testing of reactive contaminant transport in drinking water pipes: chlorine response and implications for online contaminant detection. Water Research 10.1016/j.watres.2007.10.009
publications-4060 article 2003 Constans, Sophie and BrΓ©mond, Bernard and Morel, Paul Simulation and Control of Chlorine Levels in Water Distribution Networks Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management 10.1061/(asce)0733-9496(2003)129:2(135) Chlorine concentration is an important parameter used to assess the quality of water supplied by a distribution network. While several water quality simulators are readily available (e.g., EPANET software), water quality optimization decision support tools are currently lacking. A new control-oriented calculation model for chlorine concentrations in distribution networks is presented for general water distribution networks operating under periodic demand conditions. The model is based upon the analysis of the characteristic curves of the concentration transport-reaction equation over each pipe in a network. Numerical results are comparable with EPANET results, but unlike other water quality algorithms, the current method requires neither discretizations along the pipes, nor the choice of initial conditions. Moreover, it is a first step toward a method for controlling concentrations, yielding linear relationships between the concentrations at both ends of each pipe by the explicit inclusion of system dynamics. These relationships can be used as constraints in a linear programming optimization model that minimizes deviations from permissible concentration levels.