The paper presents the results of the Battle of Postdisaster Response and Restoration (BPDRR) presented in a special session at the first International water distribution systems analysis & computing and control in the water industry (WDSA/CCWI) Joint Conference, held in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in July 2018. The BPDRR problem focused on how to respond and restore water service after the occurrence of five earthquake scenarios that cause structural damage in a water distribution system. Participants were required to propose a prioritization schedule to fix the damages of each scenario while following restrictions on visibility/nonvisibility of damages. Each team/approach was evaluated against six performance criteria: (1) time without supply for hospital/firefighting, (2) rapidity of recovery, (3) resilience loss, (4) average time of no user service, (5) number of users without service for eight consecutive hours, and (6) water loss. Three main types of approaches were identified from the submissions: (1) general-purpose metaheuristic algorithms, (2) greedy algorithms, and (3) ranking-based prioritizations. All three approaches showed potential to solve the challenge efficiently. The results of the participants showed that for this network, the impact of a large-diameter pipe failure on the network is more significant than several smaller pipes failures. The location of isolation valves and the size of hydraulic segments influenced the resilience of the system during emergencies. On average, the interruptions to water supply (hospitals and firefighting) varied considerably among solutions and emergency scenarios, highlighting the importance of private water storage for emergencies. The effects of damages and repair work were more noticeable during the peak demand periods (morning and noontime) than during the low-flow periods; and tank storage helped to preserve functionality of the network in the first few hours after a simulated event.

On the maintenance task list of each water distribution system (WDS) operator, determination of the order of undertaken repairs seems quite a typical task. Characteristics of damages, their localization, and other factors that influence repair sequencing have a sound impact on the execution of such tasks. In the case of the most complex cases where numerous failures of different types occur at the very same time (i.e., due to earthquakes), there is a long list of selection criteria that have to be analyzed to deliver an objectively logical schedule for repair teams. In this article, authors attempt to find out if it is possible to define pipe rankings in having obtained the best factors for defined objective functions (criteria), making it feasible to deliver judicious repair sequencing. For the purposes of this paper, a survey has been carried out. Its conclusions made it possible to propose a method to create rankings of pipes and evaluate them using a selected multicriteria decision method: preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE). The work was carried out for five different disaster scenarios that had been supplied by ‘The Battle of Post-Disaster Response and Restoration’ organization committee. Obtained results might be further used to finetune this sequencing method of undertaken repairs, while conclusions could be useful to model similar events in WDS when required. This article is an extended paper based on the conference preprint presented at the 1st International Water Distribution Systems Analysis (WDSA)/International Computing & Control for the Water Industry (CCWI) Joint Conference in July 23–25, 2018 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

This report presents a selection of exploitation problems which can be effectively solved by water network modellers. It includes a list of worldwide-available software dedicated to modeling water distribution systems. This type of software can serve as the key tool supporting management and water pipe networks' control. Based on a few samples of real-life problems this report points out recent functionalities and methods. Moreover, there are presented some new trends and main problems in water network modeling.

TEVA-SPOT software was released in 2008 as a freeware dedicated to water and sewer utilities. It enables modelling of various of measurement points, and built-in tools to conduct more in-depth examinations. This paper presents selected possibilities this program grants in the context of emergencies, terrorist attacks or if it is used as an early warning system. It had gone through a hands-on examination and its results-advantages, difficulties and limitations have as well been described here.

The Water Network Tool for Resilience (WNTR) library, running on hydraulic models developed in EPANET, was first published in 2017. It allows not only hydraulic and quality simulations but also modeling of events such as power outages, pipe breaks, incidental contamination events, earthquakes and other unusual situations that may occur in water supply networks. This article presents the practical application of this algorithm (quoted in the title) in an Early Warning System (EWS). Based on a selected hydraulic model of a water supply network and a random dose of some contamination, the role of this algorithm is to propose which sections of the network should be closed to minimize the contamination impact. Additionally, this paper discusses how the use of WNTR tool may help to influence follow-up reactions in case of the type of event having been described.

Deployment of IT solutions in water utilities in Poland concerns nowadays lots beyond GIS implementation projects [1]. The scope of modern IT platforms is truly advanced software for complete management of water treatment processes and involved objects, including ranges of various types of equipment. There are multiply factors that disrupt required volumes of supplied water. They are normally classified as natural, accidental and intentional. This paper addresses potential residing in already deployed IT solutions of water utilities in and also in new ones being now developed. Primarily- from the perspective of intentional, terrorist threats. This document depicts operating procedures that are called in case of spotted contamination in a water supply (damage of key elements of the network infrastructure) or in case of an introduction factors. This paper also discusses relevant IT tools with access provided to network operators or water plant owners that are extremely useful in accurate pinpointing the treat and in following relevant operating procedures and related actions.