Robustness of the Drinking Water Distribution Network under Changing Future Demand

A methodology to determine the robustness of the drinking water distribution system is proposed. The performance of three networks under ten future demand scenarios was tested, using head loss and residence time as indicators. The scenarios consider technological and demographic changes. Daily patterns were simulated with SIMDEUM for each connection. The analysis showed three robust networks, which are able to cope with extreme scenarios, though different scenarios have different consequences on the performance of the networks. The consequences on the performance are a function of the size and layout of the network. Therefore, robustness analysis is network specific.