OpenFlows | Water Infrastructure - WaterSight - Zones

Product(s):	WaterSight
Version(s):	10.00.
Area:	Documentation

Overview

Zones should correspond to isolated areas of the system, surrounded by closed valves and where all inflows and outflows (if exist) must be measured. Zones can include for example DMA (District Metered Areas), combination of pressure zones or operational zones as long as the net flow balance can be calculated. More information here can be seen here - Zones definition.

Creating and Updating Zones

Zones are created or updated directly through the import of the configuration template file in the Admin >> Zones or can also be created or updated manually through the user interface.

WaterSight will read both the Zones Balance and Zones Characteristics tabs from the template to create and update the zones in WaterSight. A zone will be created if it is defined in the Zones Characteristics tab or in the Zones Balance tab or in both. Please note that the zone names in the Zones Characteristics and tab and Zones Balance tab need to match, otherwise WaterSight will always assume they are different zones and different zones will be created.

The creation and update of zones follows the exact same rules as the upload of all other information (sensors, smart meters, tanks, pumps, customers):

Uploading a new copy of the Configuration file after a list is already populated will add new items and update existing items. Items that exist in WaterSight but not in the Configuration file will be kept (will not be automatically deleted);
It is only possible to delete zones directly through the User Interface, by clicking on the delete button on top of the table;
In the zones administration page not all fields are shown as columns in the table. To see and edit additional fields, you can select a row in the table and look at the sidebar that appears.
Not all fields available in the Configuration Excel file are required. The minimum required fields are marked in the Configuration Excel file with an asterisk in the column.
In the Configuration Excel file please make sure that the names of the columns headers as well as the names of the excel tabs remain as the original ones; otherwise there will be an error when uploading the template file into WaterSight.
When the import of the configuration file fails, there is an explicit error provided to the user explaining the reason why it failed. This error should get listed under the notification bell located on the top right corner of the WaterSight application

The most important fields are the inflow and outflow sensors. As an important note, the tank levels that should be considered for the zones balance are only those that are inside the zones boundary and serve as storage for the zone - this means that if a zone is supplied by a tank and the inflow sensor is located immediately downstream the tank (and already considered for the zone balance as input), this tank level must NOT be considered.

Note: System Total zone is always automatically created and represents the all system.

Only after zones are created it is then possible to upload their geometry in the GIS configuration page. Also if zones boundaries change, the user should update the respective zone polygon.

Recompute Monthly Balance data

When zones are created or updated, and if any of the parameters that affects the monthly water balance calculation are changed, then those zones will be marked with a orange dot and a message will be displayed for the user to recompute the monthly water balances. To recompute the monthly water balances click on the (...) button and press recompute all or select the zones for which you want to trigger the monthly water balance calculation.

By clicking on the recompute data, the zones monthly water balance components will be recalculated again.

The user can also use this option to:

Change the minimum percentage of zones flow data required to calculate zone system monthly input volume AND/OR (default value is 75%)
Recalculate zones water balance components whenever zones parameters presented in the zone admin table are changed/updated

Minimum percentage of zones flow data required to calculate zone system monthly input volume

Zone monthly system input volumes (that will be displayed in the water balance charts) are automatically calculated based on the final zone flow time series, that is a balance between all inflows, outflows and storage sensors into the zone. By default the solution assumes that for each month at least 75% of the time zone flow data needs to exist (this means that in a 30 days period, at least 22 days need to have zone data) otherwise system input volume will not be calculated. However, when clicking in the recompute data, a pop-up dialog will appear and the user can change the 75% default that is assumed, by moving the range slider to the left or to the right.

If the user for example defines a value of 50% this means that system input volume for each zone will be calculated until a maximum of 50% of missing data (for each month). For the period with data, the real zone flow time series will be used for calculate the system input volume. For the other 50% period without data, the software will estimate the monthly volume by assuming, for the missing period, the zone pattern (P50th percentile of the zones flow, considering a historical period of last 1 month).

Recalculate zones water balance components whenever zones parameters are changed/updated

Whenever some zones parameters are edited in the zones admin table below, automatically the new water balance components for the future months will also change based on the new assumptions. For example:

when changing zones inflow, outflows and/or storage sensors, automatically for the future months the zone system input volume will be calculated according with this new balance;
when changing authorized unbilled consumption percentage, automatically for the future months the zone authorized unbilled consumption component will be calculated according with this new percentage;
when changing the water losses method, automatically for the future months the apparent and real losses volumes components will be calculated according with this new percentage.

If the user changes the zones parameters in the admin zones table but does NOT click in the recompute button, the zones changes made will only reflect in the update of the water balances calculation for the future months (not affecting past months). If the user changes the zones parameters in the admin zones table and DOES click in the recompute button, then all the water balance components will be recalculated, including for all the past months.

Zones Configuration table

Column

Description

Name*

Required field. Zone display name that will appear in the software. This name should be the same used in the shapefiles uploaded in the GIS configuration page.

Population served

Population served by each zone

Number of Customers

Number of customer supplied by each zone

Number of Connections

Number of service connections for each zone

Water Losses Method

Method to use for calculating water losses. The following options are available:

Real losses calculation based on the zone minimum night flow (MNF)
Apparent losses (AL) calculation as an user defined percentage of the total zone input volume
Apparent losses (AL) calculation as an user defined percentage of the total zone revenue volume
Apparent losses (AL) calculation as an user defined percentage of the total zone water losses volumes

For more information please click here. The default option is the real losses calculation based on the zone minimum night flow.

% to consider

Percentage that is considered for each water loss method previously defined:

Method	% to consider
Based on MNF	Minimum Night Flow consumed (% of total MNF). Corresponds to the percentage of the minimum night flow that is due to consumption. If empty, a zero value will be assumed
AL % of Input	Apparent Losses (% of zone system input volume)
AL % of Revenue	Apparent Losses (% of zone revenue water)
AL % of Losses	Apparent Losses (% of zone water losses)

Auth. Unbill. % Consumed

The user defines a percentage of authorized unbilled consumption based on a percentage related to the billed consumption. This will be used to calculate the associated water balance component. If empty, a zero value will be assumed.

Priority

The priority when displaying in the zone overview. Note that a priority of 0 will prevent the zone to display in the Zone Overview

Parent Zone

If there are smaller zones defined inside bigger zones, the user needs to define which is the parent zone. By default System Total is defined. More information about zones hierarchy below.

Pattern

Pattern group assigned to the zone. Pattern groups can be created the the Administration > Settings > Pattern. If Pattern None is selected, then no patterns will be computed and displayed in the zone graph. Patterns are displayed in the zone graphs as grey bands.

Special periods

Special Periods can be defined by the user in Admin >> Settings page. For those special periods defined, zones patterns can be customized/adjusted by the user. More information about pattern customization here.

Use Gap Filling

Default option is No. A zone corresponds to a balance of one or more flow sensors. In case at least one flow sensor that belongs to zone balance has missing data or gaps, the zone flow will also have missing data or gaps, which can compromise the zone flow monitoring.

If set to yes, than every time one of the sensors fails or every time a meter failure event is registered at the sensor level, the software will automatically estimate the data for the final zone flow for which the sensor contributes to. Estimated data is only displayed at the zone level (and not at the sensor level) and will be represented in the zone graphs with empty circles, allowing the user to continue to have access to zone flows, even if estimated. These zone estimations will then be used in all consequent calculations of water balances and other zone KPI. Please note that the gap filling option only exists at the zone level, this means that even the application estimated the flow in the sensor that fails, in the sensor graph this problem (missing data or gaps) will always be noted so the user can be always aware of the real issues at the sensor level. Please also note that zone events/alerts are never generated based on estimated data. More information here - Zone Gap Filing: Estimating missing or wrong data.

Flow In*

Required field. Number of sensors measuring flow into the zone. To define/edit the inflow sensors, just click in a zone (table row) and then click in the edit button above the table. Below the table will appear the "Flow in" sensors to configure. There must be at least one inflow.

Flow Out

Number of sensors measuring flow out of the zone. To define/edit the outflow sensors, just click in a zone (table row) and then click in the edit button above the table. Below the table will appear the "Flow out" sensors to configure.

Storage

Number of sensors measuring tank levels, inside the zone boundaries. To define/edit the storage sensors, just click in a zone (table row) and then click in the edit button above the table. Below the table will appear the "Storage" sensors to configure. As an important note, the tank levels that should be considered for the zones balance are only those that are inside the zones boundary and serve as storage for the zone - this means that if a zone is supplied by a tank and the inflow sensor is located immediately downstream the tank (and already considered for the zone balance as input), this tank level must NOT be considered.

Tags (User defined groups)

It is possible to insert tags (or user defined groups) for each zone by directly clicking in a row in the Zones table, then clicking Edit and then filling the Tags section below the table.

Once tags are defined, those will be available in the Zones Network Monitoring pages, so that is easier to search and find specific Zones of interest. Below some examples of groups that may be relevant:

grouping zones by towns
grouping zones by critical an non-critical
grouping zones by main type of use (mainly residential, mainly industrial, etc)
grouping zones by seasonal influence (zones which consumption changes significantly during summer VS zones which consumption does not change too much in the summer)
etc, etc

Zones hierarchy

Most utilities manage their systems based on bigger zones (usually called operational zones or distribution systems), being each operational zone or system composed by several smaller zones (usually called DMA). In WaterSight it is possible to consider these two levels of zones hierarchy, but it is also possible to consider three or more levels of hierarchy (for example a town, that is composed by several distribution systems, being each system composed by several DMA). The highest zones in the hierarchy will have System Total as their parent.

Distribution system - Oakville Zone	DMA - Oakville Low Zone	DMA - Oakville High Zone

In the example above, it is being considered a bigger zone (Oakville Zone) that is divided in two smaller zones (Oakville Low Zone and Oakville High Zone). In this case, in the zones configuration table, both Oakville Low Zone and Oakville High Zone should have Oakville Zone as their parent (example below).