Early Warning Systems to Predict Temperature in the Drinking Water Distribution Network

Climate change poses new challenges to prevent exceeding the maximum allowed temperature in the drinking water distribution system (DWDS). The objective of this article is to evaluate the feasibility of using weather forecast data to predict the temperature in the DWDS. The water temperature was modeled using actual meteorological records and historical weather forecast data for a Dutch city for a warm period during the summer 2006. Results showed a maximum absolute error of 0.87 °C. These results indicate that it is possible to use weather forecast information as an “early warning system” to predict temperature in the DWDS.