Water Distribution Network Model Building, Case Study: Milano, Italy

Most developments for Water Distribution Network (WDN) modeling purposes refer to optimization approaches for design, rehabilitation or operation. However, most case studies presented in the literature are rather small and represent only a small portion or simplification of a network. The city of Milano with a population of around 1.3 million inhabitants is an example of a WDN where many phenomena occur simultaneously and where the utility, Metropolitana Milanese S.p.A, (MM), needs to deal with many factors for its daily operation. Under the framework of the EU-FP7 ICeWater project, a new model for the WDN of the city of Milano has been developed with UNESCO-IHE, during the last 2.5 years. This article presents the process of model building, the challenges for the calibration process, open issues and tasks to be developed in the near future.