Contaminant intrusion in water distribution systems

The research described in this article concerns contaminant intrusion into a water distribution system associated with transient events. A Lagrangian‐based contaminant transport model was coupled with an Eulerian‐based transient hydraulic model to study contaminant intrusion and its propagation in a water distribution system. The hydraulic model was used to detect negative pressures during normal system operations. The Lagrangian‐based contaminant transport model reduced simulation time and avoided numerical dissipation and dispersion errors that often occur with Eulerian‐based modeling. The proposed water quality model was used to evaluate two systems described in the literature for their potential vulnerability to contaminant intrusion. The new transient water quality model realistically simulated intrusion events and contaminant propagation in both systems.