NEF4101 Research Project: Water Supply Reorganization in Malololelei

This research report focuses on the reorganization of the Malololelei water supply system to address the challenges of urbanization and climate change, aiming for sustainable water servicing. It addresses the impact of changing weather patterns, including both excess and scarcity of water, and their effects on the water supply infrastructure. The report highlights the significance of the Malololelei Water Treatment Plant (WTP) and its current limitations, emphasizing the need for an upgraded system to extend coverage to surrounding communities. The literature review covers the necessity of reorganization due to population growth and expansion, discussing the need for new pipelines, increased pumping capacity, and new pumping stations. The methodology section discusses urbanization and climate change as key factors affecting existing water distribution systems, emphasizing the importance of flexibility and resilience. The report references EPANET software as a tool for modeling water distribution systems and highlights the research questions that guide the study, focusing on challenges, procedures, and models for reorganization.

Hydraulics 1
HYDRAULICS
By Name
Course
Instructor
Institution
Location
Date

Hydraulics 2
Reorganization of Malololelei water supply to meet urbanization and climate change
challenges for sustainable servicing
Introduction
This research work is mainly focused on concept of upgrading the water supply system of
Malololelei in order to sustain the population increase and effects of changes in climate that are
caused by rapid changes in the weather patterns. Changes in weather patterns may result to either
little or too much water. When there is a lot of water, it could result to the malfunction of the
systems, a rise in turbidity as well as destruction of assets. On the other hand, little water implies
that there won’t be enough water supplies to the customers. A rise in the natural disaster due to
changes in climate will affect the quality and supply of water.
Background
Malololelei Water Treatment Plant (WTP) is currently one of the 3 major slow sand filtration
plants that serve the larger Apia urban region. Up to 4000 people depend on it for water. The
Vaisigano River provides it with the raw water intake. The reorganization of Malololelei water
supply system will increase its coverage to the surrounding communities and hence ensure there
is a constant and resilient connection of water (Freas and Munévar, 2014).
Literature review
Water distribution systems need proper reorganization in order to derive increased demand for
water that arises from an increase in population mainly due to an increase in the population
density or even an expansion into new regions. Whenever the increased demand is marginal, the
pumping improvement is generally enough. Whenever there is a substantial increase, there is

Hydraulics 3
need for provision of parallel pipelines, laying new pipelines, increasing the capacity of pumping
for the already laid pumping plants and even provision of new pumping stations. This whole
process can be referred to as reorganization of existing water distribution systems (Swamee and
Sharma, 2010).
Most water treatment and distributions plants are designed for a specific period of time,
depending on the projected rate of increase in the demand for water. For normal scenarios where
there is anticipation of a growing demand, it is important to first design the system then carry out
reorganization whenever the demand rises past its capacity (Doane, 2012).
A highly complex reorganization of a system is always required. Besides just strengthening the
system, there is need to deal with the inclusion of extra demand nodes with corresponding extra
input nodes and pipe links at preset locations in order to attain the increased system demand.
Reorganization could also be required to modify a system that is already in existence in order to
increase the capacity of delivery. This can be achieved by adding new delivery systems, pipe
links as well as new storage facilities (Walski, 2013).
An algorithm for strengthening a water distribution system was first presented by Bhave (2008).
In the invention, a looped network was first transformed into a branched network. The pipes of
the converted branched-network configurations were the only ones strengthened. The rest of the
pipes that maintained a looped network nature were replaced by either a replacement of least
minimum suggested size or by new pipes that have similar size.
Methodology
Urbanization and climate change are common problems that in one way or another affect
existing water distribution systems. Changes in climate will most probably result to increased

Hydraulics 4
climate variability that has to be dealt with by increasing the flexibility, resilience and robustness
of existing water distribution systems. Other factors such as population growth and urbanization
also add to the challenges that face these distribution systems. Urban water distribution systems
are becoming difficult to manage and thus call for proper reorganization of the existing systems
into a more sustainable future that factor in resilience and sustainability (Short et al., 2012).
Reorganization of the existing water supply systems requires proper tools and skills. Climate
change can either lead to plenty of little water whereas urbanization and population change may
lead to increased demand for water supply. It is therefore important to include all these factors
when carrying out reorganization (Clark, 2015).
EPANET is modern software that is used across the globe for the purpose of modeling water
distribution systems.
EPANET
This is a common tool used for modeling water distribution systems. It is designed as a tool that
can help understand the movement and fate of the constituents of drinking water within the
distribution systems. It is currently commonly used for the design and sizing of new and existing
aging water infrastructure, optimization operations of pumps and tanks, reduction of energy
usage, preparation for emergencies as well as investigation of water quality issues. The software
helps these distribution systems to maintain and improve the water quality that is delivered to the
end users (US EPA, 2020). It is also able to model threats of contamination as well as evaluate
the resilience to natural disasters or even security threats.

Hydraulics 5
Research questions
The following are the major questions that will help guide this research work;
 What are the possible challenges of urbanization towards sustainable servicing of
Malololelelei water distribution system?
 What are the possible challenges of climate change towards sustainable servicing of
Malololelelei water distribution system?
 What are the best procedures and models for the reorganization of Malololelelei water
distribution system?

Hydraulics 6
References
Bhave, P. R. (2008). "Noncomputer optimization of single source networks." 7.Envir. Engrg.
Div., ASCE, 104(4), 799-814.
Clark, R. (2015). The USEPA's distribution system water quality modelling program: a historical
perspective. Water and Environment Journal, 29(3), pp.320-330.
Doane, H. (2012). Reorganization of the Halifax Water System. Journal - American Water
Works Association, 38(7), pp.799-807.
Freas, K. and Munévar, A. (2014). Total Water Management: Managing the Water Cycle for
Climate Change Solutions. Water Environment Research, 80(4), pp.291-291.
Short, M., Peirson, W., Peters, G. and Cox, R. (2012). Managing Adaptation of Urban Water
Systems in a Changing Climate. Water Resources Management, 26(7), pp.1953-1981.
Swamee, P. and Sharma, A. (2010). Reorganization of Water‐Distribution System. Journal of
Environmental Engineering, 116(3), pp.588-600.
US EPA. (2020). EPANET | US EPA. [online] Available at: https://www.epa.gov/water-
research/epanet#main-content [Accessed 26 Feb. 2020].
Walski, T. (2013). Using water distribution system models. Journal - American Water Works
Association, 75(2), pp.58-63.