Flow modelling of urban water distribution systems using water conservation fittings

The aim of this work is to assess the impact of water conserving fixtures and fittings on UK building drainage (wastewater collection) systems of up to 100mm diameter, ranging from the point where the appliance discharges into the collection drain to the connection to the common sewer. This will involve taking an inventory of water conserving devices currently available, and to quantify the effect that these will have on the wastewater collection systems in terms of increased residence times and downstream blockages caused by solid waste deposition or other flow problems. This will be achieved through comprehensive volumetric discharge measurements of a range of water saving devices, then entering these results into a modelling package (DRAINET), which is designed to perform a sensitivity analysis on the wastewater collection system’s performance and has been extensively validated with comparison to live site data through several previous EPSRC grants. DRAINET will be used to simulate the performance of a wastewater collection system typical of modern housing developments, modelling scenarios where the households are using conventional fittings and then with water conserving fittings, to quantify any differences when pipe diameter is reduced.