Sustainable Management of Water Distribution Networks
A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Water Management".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2026 | Viewed by 200
Editors
Interests: water hammer; corrosion; pipe aging; residual life of pipe; water distribution system; maintenance of pipe; leakage
Interests: water resources (hydrosystems) engineering; water distribution system modelling and analysis; water-related disaster adaptation and management, optimization, artificial intelligence(AI) and digital twin (DT)-based data analysis and physical modelling in water area
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Water distribution systems are exposed to soil externally and potable water internally, leading to sludge accumulation inside the pipes as a result of various soil- and water-related physical and chemical factors. Unexpected changes in water demand can alter internal flow conditions, causing turbidity and red water events. In recent years, unexplained water quality problems have reduced public confidence in tap water, highlighting the need for systematic research on water quality issues in water supply systems. Addressing these challenges requires the development of early detection technologies for water quality anomalies and their integration with hydraulic analysis of water distribution systems to quantitatively identify the causes of water quality deterioration.
Due to the underground installation of water distribution pipes, accurately identifying the current condition of the pipe body remains inherently challenging. Although rapid responses to pipe aging and water quality changes are difficult, as implied by the broad concept of smart water distribution system operation technologies, the integration of various information technologies and sensor technologies enables real-time acquisition of pipe condition data and water quality data that were previously difficult to obtain. Through these advancements, numerous studies have been conducted to support rapid responses to water supply incidents. Continuous research in this field is necessary, as the accumulation of large-scale water distribution data will enable more accurate decision-making and improved predictive capabilities in the future.
Smart water distribution systems have gained attention as a key technology for the integrated management of network condition information and the advancement of operational decision-making in increasingly complex water supply environments. As distribution networks expand in scale and infrastructure heterogeneity increases, operators are required to consider a large volume of asset-related information simultaneously, making experience-based operation alone insufficient for effective network management. In particular, when diverse data such as pressure, flow rate, water quality, and operational history are used independently, it becomes difficult to comprehensively assess potential risks. Accordingly, there is a growing need for research on smart water distribution system operation and maintenance technologies that integrate and analyze sensor-based monitoring data and operational information to systematically interpret network condition changes and to support rational operational strategies and maintenance planning.
Dr. Hyuk Jae Kwon
Dr. Do Guen Yoo
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- leakage
- water supply system
- residual life
- pipe aging
- water quality
- corrosion
- smart maintenance
- smart system design
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