Modeling and Field Work to Investigate the Relationship between Age and Quality of Tap Water

Abstract

It has been widely theorized that water age may be a useful indicator of the quality of water within drinking water distribution networks. However, there is limited evidence of model simulation results being related to empirical water quality (WQ) data to substantiate the theory. This paper presents the findings of investigations designed to determine if there was an observable relationship between mean water ages calculated using a WQ simulation model, and measured WQ in two live distribution networks. The age of water in all pipes was calculated using