Division of district metered areas (DMAs) in a part of water supply network using WaterGEMS (Bentley) software: a case study

Designing of District metered areas (DMA) schemes is a key element in developing a technique for detecting and removing unreported leaks in a water distribution system (WDS) called active leakage control. The design of DMA is very specific to individual networks' hydraulic and often constitutes one area with pressure managed zones. This paper presents the division of a selected water supply network zone into DMA areas. Based on the spatial distribution of the flow rate and the geometrical structure of the network (routes, pipe diameters, existing gate valves) in the analyzed water supply zone, the main transmission trunks were separated (DN150 divided by DN500 diameter range) and were excluded from the division into metering areas. DMA areas were separated from the remaining parts of the network, using the district metered areas module, supporting the division of water supply networks into metering zones, available in the WaterGEMS software by Bentley. The number of nodes in the area was 200 as the main criterion for separating DMAs. The separated areas were combined into 3 main DMA zones, in which the sum of the pipe lengths varied between 2500 divided by 3800 m. For each of the DMAs, the water supply route was determined individually, seeking a one-sided inflow to the isolated area. In two out of three cases, this goal has been achieved. In the third case, it turned out necessary to provide two-sided water inflow. The analysis of the correct operation of DMAs was based on the hydraulic modeling of WDS.