Operation and Cost-Effectiveness of Local and Remote RTC

This paper analyses the cost-effectiveness of two different variants of real-time pressure control (RTC) of valves in water distribution networks (WDNs), namely, the local and remote RTC. The system considered for RTC application is made up of a WDN pressure zone fed through a single-control valve. Whereas both variants of RTC are based on dynamically adjusting the valve settings, the main difference lies in the source of the measurements used, that is, local measurements taken at the valve site and remote measurements from the critical node, respectively. The analysis was carried out considering RTC installation costs and operational costs associated with water production and expected pipe burst repairs, while taking as benchmark the no-control scenario. The two kinds of operational cost were evaluated through pressure-driven extended-period simulation with stochastic nodal demands and empirical modeling, respectively. The results pointed out that the local RTC is more cost-effective for small pressure zones. Resorting to remote RTC is justified only for larger systems.