Video - Water Infrastructure Research Facilities

Pipe Dreams - what's in the pipeline?

The challenge

Enabling a transformation in the operation and management of buried water distribution system infrastructure, maximising performance to meet the combined impacts of climate change, increasing societal demands for water quantity and quality, ensuring the delivery of safe wholesome water for public health and well being throughout the 21st Century and beyond.

The solution

The interdisciplinary Pipe Dreams approach is enhancing the current knowledge and understanding of how water distribution systems operate and function as an ecosystem and is developing new computation tools and techniques for integrating online application of the latest instrumentation. Work is set in a pragmatic engineering context, providing applicable understanding, knowledge, tools, techniques and management strategies. Research includes multidisciplinary approaches combining both computer science and microbiology. In computer science, using hydroinformatics techniques for data mining, pattern recognition, artificial intelligence and modelling. In microbiology, assessing the role of microorganisms on the quality and safety of drinking water - particularly by investigating biofilms. Including characterization of microbial communities using DNA-based methods, fingerprinting and high-throughput sequencing.

Resulting benefits

This research is contributing to improved operation, control and management of existing infrastructure to maximise its performance and to guarantee the quality and safety of drinking water.

Future directions

This project has opened the box of microbiology in water distribution systems, driven by discolouration. Where next? Pathogens? Asset deterioration? There is also a great deal of potential for soft computing techniques for the water industry.

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