Using AMSI in DMA design to introduce the CAPEX goal

Water loss management is a relevant issue for urban drinking water networks impacting public expenditure, being leakages caused by deteriorated aged systems which need of expensive pipes replacement plans. Design of district metering areas (DMAs) improves engineering management, also with respect to water losses, supporting pressure control, active leakage detection and pipes replacement. This work presents a novel DMA design framework based on a two- phase optimization strategy. The former is the topological segmentation to partition the network domain, and the latter is the hydraulic analysis to decide the position of closed gates at the boundary of DMAs. The novel framework introduces the efficiency goal for CAPital EXpenditure in optimal DMA design. The novel modularity index drives the segmentation to smaller DMAs where the density of consumers meters is higher, identified as more critical and prone to deterioration. Successively, the novel asset management support indicator (AMSI), which is a deterioration index scalable from pipes to DMAs and the entire drinking network, drives the pressure reduction in the most deteriorated area of the network by means of the optimal location of closed gates. The case study of the Modugno Town, in Apulia, is used to demonstrate and discuss the novel optimal DMA design framework.