Balancing water supply and demand under different demand management options: a water system perspective

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George Arampatzis, Eleni Kampragou, Panagiotis Scaloubakas, Dionysis Assimacopoulos

Thursday 2 july 2015

12:30 - 12:33h at North America (level 0)

Themes: (ST) FP7 ICT and water, Poster pitches, (T) Special session

Parallel session: Poster pitches: 11I. Special session: FP7 ICT and Water

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Water management authorities are equipped with tools for the daily operation and monitoring of the water supply network (water suppliers) or the long-term management and allocation of water resources (water managers). The contribution of ICT solutions for improving the efficiency of management is highly acknowledged, as these provide an integrated framework for data management, water supply and demand management, and decision support. There are several ICT platforms for metering, monitoring, and decision support on the basis of simulation models; however a great challenge remains the balancing of water supply and demand on the basis of: (i) a better understanding of the water demand pattern and its forecasting, and (ii) an analysis of the effects of water demand management instruments on the various actors of the water supply chain (distributional effects). The FP7 WatERP project contributes to this research area by adopting a 'water system' approach for analysing the water supply chain and meeting water demand. A Tool for Demand Management Instruments (TDMI) is developed, aiming at analysing the impacts that alternative instruments and measures may have on water demand. A three step process is followed and involves: (i) the representation of the actors for water service provision (bulk supplier, water service provider, consumer) and their relationships, (ii) long-term water demand forecasting using an end-use/unit use model, and (iii) demand management instrument's assessment on the basis of different indicators (water saving potential, affordability & cost recovery). The whole process is supported by an ontology-driven knowledge base and a database which hosts different types of data (spatial and time-series data). The TDMI is applied and tested successfully in two distinct pilot sites: one representing a water-poor area (Barcelona, Spain) and the other a water-rich area (Karlsruhe, Germany).