Water quality modeling in distribution networks

Severn Trent is finding several practical applications for network models related to water quality. This article reviews the work of Severn Trent Water, a large private‐sector water utility in the United Kingdom, in building and applying computer‐based water quality network models of its distribution systems. This work has involved building several chlorine decay models of systems of differing size, level of detail, and quality of source water. The firm is applying these models in the design of optimized chlorination strategies to improve customer satisfaction while ensuring the maintenance of effective disinfectant residuals. The article also provides several examples of how other water quality–related network models—including models of water age, substance tracking, and source blending—are growing in application within the company as decision support tools for distribution management.