L’évolution de l’équipement des réseaux d’eau potable a considérablement amélioré le pilotage de ces derniers. Le telérelevé des compteurs d’eau est sans doute la technologie qui a créé la plus grande avancée ces dernières années dans la gestion de l’eau, tant pour l’opérateur que pour l’usager. Cette technologie a permis de passer d’une information le plus souvent annuelle sur les consommations (suite à la relève manuelle des compteurs d’eau) à une information infra-journalière. Mais le télérelevé, aussi performant soit-il, a un inconvénient : son coût. L’instrumentation complète d’un réseau engendre des investissements que certains opérateurs ne peuvent se permettre. Ainsi la création d’un échantillon de compteurs à équiper permet d’estimer la consommation totale d’un réseau tout en minimisant les coûts d’investissement. Cet échantillon doit être construit de façon intelligente de sorte que l’imprécision liée à l’estimation ne nuise pas à l’évaluation des consommations. Une connaissance précise sur les consommations d’eau permet de quantifier les volumes perdus en réseau. Mais, même dans le cas d’une évaluation exacte des pertes, cela ne peut pas suffire à éliminer toutes les fuites sur le réseau. En effet, si le réseau de distribution d’eau potable est majoritairement enterré, donc invisible, il en va de même pour les fuites. Une fraction des fuites est invisible et même indétectable par les techniques actuelles de recherche de fuites, et donc irréparable. La construction d’un modèle de fuite multi-états permet de décomposer le débit de fuite suivant les différents stades d’apparition d’une fuite : invisible et indétectable, invisible mais détectable par la recherche de fuite et enfin visible en surface. Ce modèle, de type semi-markovien, prend en compte les contraintes opérationnelles, notamment le fait que nous disposons de données de panel. La décomposition du débit de fuite permet de fait une meilleure gestion du réseau en ciblant et adaptant les actions de lutte contre les fuites à mettre en place en fonction de l’état de dégradation du réseau. / The evolution of equipment on drinking water networks has considerably bettered the monitoring of these lasts. Automatic meter reading (AMR) is clearly the technology which has brought the major progress these last years in water management, as for the operator and the end-users. This technology has allowed passing from an annual information on water consumption (thanks to the manual meter reading) toan infra-daily information. But as efficient as AMR can be, it has one main inconvenient : its cost. A complete network instrumentation generates capital expenditures that some operators can’t allowed themselves. The constitution of a sample of meters to equip enables then to estimate the network total consumption while minimizing the investments. This sample has to be built smartly so the inaccuracy of the estimator shouldn’t be harmful to the consumption estimation. A precise knowledge on water consumption allowsquantifying the water lost volumes on the network. But even an exact assessment of losses is still not enough to eliminate all the leaks on the network. Indeed, if the water distribution network is buried, and so invisible, so do the leaks. A fraction of leaks are invisible and even undetectable by the current technologies of leakage control, and so these leaks are un-reparable. The construction of a multi-state model enables us to decompose the leakage flow according to the different stages of appearance of a leak : invisible and undetectable, invisible but detectable with leakage control and finally detectable. This semi-Markovian model takes into account operational constrains, in particular the fact that we dispose of panel data. The leakage flow decomposition allows a better network monitoring but targeting and adapting the action of leakage reduction to set up according to the degradation state of the network.

La résistance bactérienne aux antibiotiques dans les établissements de santé complique la prise en charge thérapeutique et entraîne une surmortalité des patients infectés. L'objectif de ce travail était d'évaluer différentes approches ayant pour finalité la prévention et la maîtrise des infections nosocomiales. Ce travail s'articule autour de trois questions : (i) Existe-t-il une stratégie de promotion d'un juste usage des antibiotiques à privilégier ? (ii) Comment évaluer la performance en matière d'hygiène des mains ? (iii) Quelles mesures pouvons-nous proposer pour limiter la diffusion de P. aeruginosa ?Nous avons d'abord montré que la diffusion de recommandations sous la forme de guides régionaux ou de messages de pharmacovigilance était suivie d'une modification des prescriptions antibiotiques conformes aux recommandations.Ensuite, nous avons évalué le niveau de performance des établissements de santé en matière d'hygiène des mains en étudiant plus particulièrement l'indicateur de consommation de solution hydro-alcoolique (ICSHA). Nous avons ainsi pu montrer que le nombre minimal d'opportunité d'hygiène des mains servant à son calcul, était sous-estime. Dans une autre étude, nous avons été confrontés aux limites liées à sa construction, ces dernières étant en partie responsable de l'absence de relation observée entre cet indicateur et la prévalence des infections associées aux dispositifs invasifs.Enfin, nous avons montré que la charge en soins et la contamination des réseaux d'eau propre des établissements de santé étaient des facteurs de risque contextuels d'acquisition du bacille pyocyanique. Un autre travail a mis en évidence que les réseaux d'eau usée étaient impliqués dans la diffusion extra-hospitalière de souches résistantes. Une étude est actuellement en cours pour évaluer l'intérêt d'une approche globale associant dépistage et précautions complémentaires chez les patients porteurs de P. aeruginosa.En conclusion, si ce travail confirme l'efficacité de certaines actions de prévention tout en mettant en avant les limites d'autres approches, il ne permet pas de privilégier une stratégie particulière. Il apparaît ainsi nécessaire de mettre en place des stratégies globales et transversales allant au-delà des seuls établissements de santé / Bacterial resistance to antibiotics in health care facilities complicates the therapeutic burden and increased mortality of infected patients. The objective of this work was to evaluate different approaches which aim was to prevent and control hospital-acquired infections. This work focuses on three issues: (i) Is there a strategy already in place to promote the appropriate use of antibiotics? (ii) How can we evaluate performance in terms of hand hygiene? (iii) What measures can we implement to limit the spread of P. aeruginosa?We first showed that the distributions of regional guidelines or drug monitoring alerts were followed by a change in the uptake of antibiotic prescriptions in line with such recommandations.Then we evaluated the performance of health care facilities for hand hygiene, focusing especially on the index of consumption of alcohol-base hand-rub solution. We showed that the number of alcohol-based hand-rub is far higher than that defined by the French Ministry of Health. In another study, we were faced with limitations in its construction, the latter being partly responsible for the lack of a relationship between this indicator and the prevalence of invasive devices associated with infections.Finally, we have shown that the burden of care and the contamination of clean water networks of health facilities were contextual risk factors for acquisition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Another study showed that wastewater networks were involved in extra-hospital spread of resistant strains. A study is currently underway to assess the value of a global approach combining screening and additional precautions in patients with P. aeruginosa.In conclusion, this study confirms the effectiveness of some preventive measures while underlining the limitations of other approaches. However it does not promote a particular strategy. Because in terms of BMR, it is necessary to define global and cross-sectorial strategies which go beyond the health care facilities

V. vermiformis est une amibe libre répandue dans l'environnement et les milieux artificiels comme les réseaux d'eau chaude sanitaire (RECS). Il est maintenant bien établi qu'elle joue un rôle de réservoir pour des bactéries pathogènes, comme L. pneumophila. Le contrôle de V. vermiformis dans les RECS représente donc un enjeu sanitaire important. Les amibes libres peuvent passer d'une forme métaboliquement active (trophozoïte) à une forme de résistance, le kyste, lorsque les conditions sont défavorables ce qui leur confère une résistance aux traitements. Malgré la haute prévalence de V. vermiformis dans les RECS, les processus de différenciation et la résistance de ses kystes aux traitements n'ont été que peu étudiés. Nous avons donc investigué les changements morphologiques et ultrastructuraux qui s'opèrent lors de l'enkystement et désenkystement de V. vermiformis. Il en ressort que l'enkystement est un phénomène rapide (9 h) qui conduit à la formation de kystes entourés d'une paroi double couche. Lors du désenkystement, les trophozoïtes n'émergent pas à travers un ostiole comme c'est le cas chez Acanthamoeba. Puis, nous avons étudié l'effet des conditions environnementales et de la concentration cellulaire sur l'enkystement. Nous avons observé que plus la concentration cellulaire est élevée plus l'enkystement est rapide, ce qui suggère l'existence de mécanismes de communication intercellulaire. Enfin, nous avons étudié la résistance des kystes aux traitements utilisés dans les RECS et aux protéases. Ces traitements étaient efficaces, in vitro, pour inactiver les kystes de V. vermiformis. Ces travaux ont permis d'apporter des connaissances de bases sur les processus de d / Vermamoeba vermiformis is a free-living amoeba (FLA) widespread in the environment and artificial environments such as hot water networks. It is now well established that it acts as a reservoir for many pathogenic bacteria, such as Legionella pneumophila. The control of V. vermiformis in artificial environments represents an important health issue. FLA can turn from a metabolic active form (trophozoite) to a resistance form, called cyst, when conditions are unfavorable. Cysts are more resistant to treatments. Despite the high prevalence of V. vermiformis in hot water networks, the processes of differentiation and the resistance of cysts to disinfection treatments have been poorly studied. Therefore we investigated morphological and ultrastructural changes occurring during encystment and excystment of V. vermiformis. It appears that encystment is a fast process (9 h) which leads to the formation of cysts surrounded by a double-layered wall. During excystment, trophozoites do not emerge through an ostiole as is the case with Acanthamoeba. Then, we studied the effect of environmental conditions and cell concentration on encystment. We observed that the higher cell concentration was, the faster the encystment was, which suggests the existence of intercellular communication. Finally, we studied the resistance of cysts to conventional disinfection treatments used in hot water networks and to innovative treatment with proteases. These treatments were effective, in vitro, to inactivate V. vermiformis cysts. This work provides new finding regarding differentiation processes and cysts resistance of V. vermiformis, a free-living amoeba poorly studied.

Water distribution systems convey drinking water from treatment plant and make available to consumers’ taps. It consists of essential components like pipes, valves, pumps, tanks and reservoirs etc. The main concern in the working of a water distribution system is to assure customer demands under a choice of quantity and quality throughout the complete life span for the probable loading situations. However, in some cases, the existing infrastructure may not be adequate to meet the customer’s requirements. In such cases, system modeling plays an important role in proper management of water supply systems. In present scenario, modeling plays a significant task in appropriate execution of water distribution system. From the angle of taking management decisions valve throttling control and pumps speed control are very important. These operational problems can be addressed by manual control or by automatic control. The problem is the use of manual controls that slow down the effectiveness of the system. It reduces the efficiency of operation of valve or pump. To improve the efficiency of such water distribution systems, an automatic control based technology has been developed that links the operation of the variable speed pump control or valve throttling control. By employing an automatic control, the pump can adjust its speed at all times to meet the actual flow requirements of each load served. In case of real system design Simulink is the most widely used tool. Commercial software package Matlab/Simulink used for creation of WDS model. The goal was to produce a model that could numerically analyze the dynamic performance of a water distribution system. A Comparison of single platform methodology (Simulink based control) and double platform methodology (Matlab and EPANET based control) has been done. Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (DI) Control system model is developed for WDS model in Matlab/Simulink environment. Controller gain parameters are the very important value in control prospective. If the controller gain parameters are chosen incorrectly, the controlled process input can be unstable, i.e. its output diverges, with or without oscillation Tuning is the adjustment of control parameters (gains) to the optimum values for the desired control response. There are several methods for tuning controller like manual tuning (Trial and error procedure), Ziegler-Nichols method, Output Constraint Tuning (OCT) etc. Establishment of a pump operational policy by which all the reservoirs can be fed simultaneously to meet their requirements without creating undue transients. Tune the gain of DI controllers by different tuning methods and evaluate the best tuning method on the basis of controller performance. Development of meaningful additional objective is search of lower bound pump speed on the basis of control time or settling time. To bring the pump speeds in feasible range, application of constraint in pumps speed is introduced. The magnitude of constraints can be found using Monte Carlo methods. Monte Carlo methods are frequently used in simulating physical and mathematical systems. This method may be the most commonly applied statistical method in engineering and science disciplines. Another benefit is providing increased confidence that a model is robust using Monte Carlo testing. Model development for generalized control system for water distribution network provides the simplification needed for the simulation of large systems. Model development is based on the study of symmetric and non symmetric small, irregular networks, as well as large, regular and open bifurcating water distribution system. The problem considered in this section is that of flow dynamics in simple to complex, regular network which bifurcates in the form of a branching tree. In addition the control application of the flow network is investigated using valves as the manipulated variables to control branch flow rates. Communication between the network hydraulics coming from EPANET and control algorithm develop on Matlab (Programming Language) can be generalized with the help of development of general purpose control algorithm model.

The aim of this thesis is to perform an analysis of possibilities and benefits of installing the Smart Water Metering technology at campus of Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology. The main goal was to provide specific solutions of Smart Metering systems from different companies. One part of this thesis is dedicated to a detailed analysis of a water consumption measurement campaign that took place at the beginning of this academic year using dataloggers. Real-time flow rate and consumed volume was recorded every five minutes. Therefore it was possible to determine water consumption patterns during the day and also tell the minimum, maximum and average flow rate in different parts of the campus. Thanks to these measurements, irregular water consumption during the night was observed. This would not have been easily detected without recording real-time data. This system of recording real-time flow rates with dataloggers is considered to be suitable for the needs of faculty. Thanks to a GSM module, recorded values are sent to an FTP server once a day. From there the data can be downloaded to any kind of analysis software. Installation of Smart Water Metering technology at campus of Faculty of Civil Engineering would be beneficial for both operation of the water supply network and also for purposes of an academic research.

The performance of water lifelines during seismic events is an area of ongoing research. In this study we evaluate eight (8) different seismic events and the impact that ground shaking and ground deformations had on water pipeline systems. The overall goal of this work is to provide municipalities and utility providers with tools for mitigating the consequences of seismic hazards on water lifeline systems by analyzing the accuracy of damage estimation models. Three (3) different repair rate models are evaluated using data collected from the seismic events and compared to observed repair rate data. Results are analyzed to examine the utility of the models for forecasting damage. Results are shown. The overall goal of this work is to provide municipalities and utility providers with tools for mitigating the consequences of seismic hazards on water lifeline systems by analyzing the accuracy of damage estimation models. Results indicate that fragility functions that utilize a linear PGV-based function are the most accurate in predicting repair rates to a system based on residual plots developed for different models. Differentiating between continuous and segmented water lifeline systems is best done by using coefficients to modify the backbone PGV-based equation. Results also indicate that utilizing an additional PGD-based function could increase the predictive capabilities of water lifeline system fragility functions.

Denna kandidatuppsats i miljöteknik består av en fältundersökning från Norrvatten, ett kommunalförbund ägt av 14 olika kommuner i norra Stockholms län. Uppsatsen innehåller en undersökning av möjliga relationer mellan olika klagomål på dricksvattnet från Görvälnverket, som lagrar och behandlar råvaran för framställning dricksvatten från Mälaren. De uppmätta parametrarna var definierade från litteratur inom ämnet. Indata består av det totala antalet inkomna klagomål, med ett särskilt fokus på dem med en eller flera överskridna parametrar. Vi analyserar kvantitén av klagomål per kommun, per capita och fördelningen av klagomål för olika kategorier och relevanta parametrar såväl som relationen till befolkningstätheten i regionen. Vi hittade att det är signifikanta kopplingar mellan vissa kategorier av klagomål, och framförallt att järn är den vanligaste parametern häri. Vi hittade också att klagomål per capita kan indikera ett samband med befolkningstätheten. Ytterligare ett konstaterande är att spolning är effektivt som åtgärd mot mikrobiologiska problem, medan det för vissa kemiska parametrar förvärrade situationen. / This bachelor thesis in environmental engineering consists of a case study from Norrvatten, a municipal federation owned by 14 different urban municipalities in the northern part of the Stockholm region. The essay contains an investigation of possible relations between the various complaints on the drinking water from Görvälnverket, which is storing and treating the source material for tap water production from Mälaren. The measured parameters were defined from literature in the field. The data sets consisted in the total quantity of the complaints, with a particular focus on the ones where one or several parameters were exceeded. We analyse the quantity of complaints per municipality, per capita and the distribution of complaints for various categories and relevant parameters as well as the relation to the population densities in the region. We found that there are significant connections between some classes of complaints, and in particular that iron is the most common parameter herein. We also found that complaints per capita may indicate a correlation with the population density. A further finding is that flushing is more efficient as a measure against microbiological issues, while it for some chemical parameters rather worsened the situations.

The potential for a gastroenteritis outbreak in a post-earthquake environment may increase because of compromised infrastructure services, contaminated liquefaction (lateral spreading and surface ejecta), and the presence of gastroenteritis agents in the drinking water network. A population in a post-earthquake environment might be seriously affected by gastroenteritis because it has a short incubation period (about 10 hours). The potential for a gastroenteritis outbreak in a post-earthquake environment may increase because of compromised infrastructure services, contaminated liquefaction (lateral spreading and surface ejecta), and the presence of gastroenteritis agents in the drinking water network. A population in a post-earthquake environment might be seriously affected by gastroenteritis because it has a short incubation period (about 10 hours). The aim of this multidisciplinary research was to retrospectively analyse the gastroenteritis prevalence following the February 22, 2011 earthquake in Christchurch. The first focus was to assess whether earthquake-induced infrastructure damage, liquefaction, and gastroenteritis agents spatially explained the recorded gastroenteritis cases over the period of 35 days following the February 22, 2011 earthquake in Christchurch. The gastroenteritis agents considered in this study were Escherichia coli found in the drinking water supply (MPN/100mL) and Non-Compliant Free Associated Chlorine (FAC-NC) (less than <0.02mg/L). The second focus was the protocols that averted a gastroenteritis outbreak at three Emergency Centres (ECs): Burnside High School Emergency Centre (BEC); Cowles Stadium Emergency Centre (CEC); and Linwood High School Emergency Centre (LEC). Using a mixed-method approach, gastroenteritis point prevalence and the considered factors were quantitatively analysed. The qualitative analysis involved interviewing 30 EC staff members. The data was evaluated by adopting the Grounded Theory (GT) approach. Spatial analysis of considered factors showed that highly damaged CAUs were statistically clustered as demonstrated by Moran’s I statistic and hot spot analysis. Further modelling showed that gastroenteritis point prevalence clustering could not be fully explained by infrastructure damage alone, and other factors influenced the recorded gastroenteritis point prevalence. However, the results of this research suggest that there was a tenuous, indirect relationship between recorded gastroenteritis point prevalence and the considered factors: earthquake-induced infrastructure damage, liquefaction and FAC-NC. Two ECs were opened as part of the post-earthquake response in areas with severe infrastructure damage and liquefaction (BEC and CEC). The third EC (CEC) provided important lessons that were learnt from the previous September 4, 2010 earthquake, and implemented after the February 22, 2011 earthquake. Two types of interwoven themes identified: direct and indirect. The direct themes were preventive protocols and indirect themes included type of EC building (school or a sports stadium), and EC staff. The main limitations of the research were Modifiable Areal Units (MAUP), data detection, and memory loss. This research provides a practical method that can be adapted to assess gastroenteritis risk in a post-earthquake environment. Thus, this mixed method approach can be used in other disaster contexts to study gastroenteritis prevalence, and can serve as an appendage to the existing framework for assessing infectious diseases. Furthermore, the lessons learnt from qualitative analysis can inform the current infectious disease management plans, designed for a post-disaster response in New Zealand and internationally Using a mixed-method approach, gastroenteritis point prevalence and the considered factors were quantitatively analysed. A damage profile was created by amalgamating different types of damage for the considered factors for each Census Area Unit (CAU) in Christchurch. The damage profile enabled the application of a variety of statistical methods which included Moran’s I , Hot Spot (HS) analysis, Spearman’s Rho, and Besag–York–Mollié Model using a range of software. The qualitative analysis involved interviewing 30 EC staff members. The data was evaluated by adopting the Grounded Theory (GT) approach. Spatial analysis of considered factors showed that highly damaged CAUs were statistically clustered as demonstrated by Moran’s I statistic and hot spot analysis. Further modelling showed that gastroenteritis point prevalence clustering could not be fully explained by infrastructure damage alone, and other factors influenced the recorded gastroenteritis point prevalence. However, the results of this research suggest that there was a tenuous, indirect relationship between recorded gastroenteritis point prevalence and the considered factors: earthquake-induced infrastructure damage, liquefaction and FAC-NC. Two ECs were opened as part of the post-earthquake response in areas with severe infrastructure damage and liquefaction (BEC and CEC). The third EC (CEC) provided important lessons that were learnt from the previous September 4, 2010 earthquake, and implemented after the February 22, 2011 earthquake. The ECs were selected to represent the Christchurch area, and were situated where potential for gastroenteritis was high. BEC represented the western side of Christchurch; whilst, CEC and LEC represented the eastern side, where the potential for gastroenteritis was high according to the outputs of the quantitative spatial modelling. Qualitative analysis from the interviews at the ECs revealed that evacuees were arriving at the ECs with gastroenteritis-like symptoms. Participants believed that those symptoms did not originate at the ECs. Two types of interwoven themes identified: direct and indirect. The direct themes were preventive protocols that included prolific use of hand sanitisers; surveillance; and the services offered. Indirect themes included the EC layout, type of EC building (school or a sports stadium), and EC staff. Indirect themes governed the quality and sustainability of the direct themes implemented, which in turn averted gastroenteritis outbreaks at the ECs. The main limitations of the research were Modifiable Areal Units (MAUP), data detection, and memory loss. It was concluded that gastroenteritis point prevalence following the February 22, 2011 earthquake could not be solely explained by earthquake-induced infrastructure damage, liquefaction, and gastroenteritis causative agents alone. However, this research provides a practical method that can be adapted to assess gastroenteritis risk in a post-earthquake environment. Creating a damage profile for each CAU and using spatial data analysis can isolate vulnerable areas, and qualitative data analysis provides localised information. Thus, this mixed method approach can be used in other disaster contexts to study gastroenteritis prevalence, and can serve as an appendage to the existing framework for assessing infectious diseases. Furthermore, the lessons learnt from qualitative analysis can inform the current infectious disease management plans, designed for a post-disaster response in New Zealand and internationally.