Investigation and evaluation of alternatives for the re-design of the water supply of the National Technical University campus

V. Besiou, Investigation and evaluation of alternatives for the re-design of the water supply of the National Technical University campus, Postgraduate Thesis, Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering – National Technical University of Athens, 2010.

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According to a recent research conducted by the Faculty of Chemical Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), the present water supply network of the NTUA’s Campus in Zographou is facing water quality problems due to the corrosion of the network’s pipes. After the study and the analysis of worldwide examples about water supply networks, we decided to examine the operation of a dual water supply system within the area of the NTUA Campus. Dual water supply systems feature two separate distribution systems that supply potable water through the one network and non-potable water through the other. The two networks work independently from each other within the same area. The potable water system conveys drinking water, while the non-potable system conveys water for landscape irrigation, toilet flushing, firefighting and other purposes that do not require potable water standards. The present network in NTUA Campus will be used as the secondary system (non-potable) while the construction of a new primary network (potable) is examined. The design of this new network was performed using the EPANET software (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) that models water distribution pipe systems. With EPANET, having the required information, we tracked the flow and the velocity of the water in each pipe of the network and the pressure of each node, during a simulation period, running a Single Period Analysis. The hydraulic head loss of each pipe was computed using the Darcy-Weisbach formula. After this simulation we concluded to certain pipe dimensions and pressure grades. Moreover, we examined two alternative solutions, using the present network as primary supply. The first one was the installation of granular activated carbon filters in order to remove the suspended solids and other substances from the water. The second solution concerned the operation of water coolers in certain areas of the Campus in order to provide drinking water to the consumers. The number of the demanded filter devices and water coolers was estimated using as an example the New Buildings of the Civil Engineering faculty in NTUA. Finally, we attempted an comparative evaluation, including economical features, of all the proposed solutions.

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