Online Course on Water Transport and Distribution

For whom?

The course predominantly targets mid-career professionals dealing with technical aspects of drinking water transport and distribution, working for water supply companies, municipal assemblies or consulting bureaus. The prerequisites include a BSc degree in Civil Engineering or similar technical background, general PC-computer knowledge (word processing, spreadsheets) and good English command. The course is however designed to start from scratch on hydraulics and other technical aspects and is as such, in theory, also suitable for 'softer' professional backgrounds where multidisciplinary work in teams would be taking place as a follow-up; for instance, for rural WATSAN experts working for NGOs.

Course content

The course is designed with total study load of 140 hours, spread over a period of roughly 18 weeks assuming the average workload of 8 hours (= 1 day) per week. The contents are summarised in two main subjects with the following syllabus:

Introduction to Water Transport and Distribution:

• Main objectives and components of WTD systems;
• Water demand categories, patterns, calculation and forecasting;
• Steady-state hydraulics of pressurised flows, single pipe calculation, branched and looped networks,  pressure driven demand;
• Hydraulics of storage and pumps;
• Hydraulic design: choice of supply scheme, network layouts, design of pumping stations, power requirements and energy consumption;
• Engineering design: choice of pipe materials, valves and other equipment;
• Network construction: pipe laying, testing and disinfection;
• Operation & maintenance: regular & irregular supply, network cleaning and rehabilitation.

Water Loss Management and Control:

• Definition of non-revenue water and IWA terminology used in the sector;
• Components of water losses, methods of reducing and controlling real- and apparent network losses;
• Quantification of leakage in distribution systems, leak location and repair techniques, pressure management.

The core of the blended learning approach in the introductory subject is the MS PowerPoint slideshow prepared with audio presentation, given to the participants for self-study, accompanied by MS Excel spreadsheet hydraulic lessons available for solving of workshop problems. During the design exercise, network operation is analysed by using EPANET software (US Environmental Protection Agency, Ver.2). The lecture materials on water loss management and control also consist of Power Point presentations slides. Additionally, some sample questions (including calculations) and multiple choice questions have been provided to practice and to test the understanding of the subject. The basic reference material for the course also includes the e-version of: Trifunović, N. 2008. Introduction to Urban Water Distribution, 509 p., Taylor & Francis, London, UK, made available to the course participants.