Developing a numerical approach for monitoring the degradation of water quality parameters in an urban water supply system of the rapidly growing African city of Kinshasa

ABSTRACT Drinking water can undergo spatio-temporal changes in quality during its travel along the water distribution network, leading to variability in the quality of water received by consumers due to several parameters. This makes monitoring water quality in distribution networks essential to ensure compliance with standards and reduce waterborne diseases associated with poor water quality. These diseases are prevalent in Africa due to inadequate monitoring systems and the state of water supply networks. This research aims to develop an innovative numerical model to monitor the degradation of free residual chlorine in the water supply system of Kinshasa City. We modeled chlorine degradation in the distribution network according to parameters, such as water flow and pressure. The coefficients responsible for the degradation of chlorine such as bulk and pipe wall coefficients were determined. A calibration and validation phase with in situ observations of the model was conducted using coupling EPANET and Python via WNTR. The results of this study indicate that the model-developed behavior aligns with the observed data. The validation phase results for the model are noteworthy, with R = 0.932, average RE% = 9.25%, RMSE = 0.18 mg/l, MAE = 0.14 mg/l, R2 = 0.9, and KGE = 0.542.