A Review of Water Distribution System Modeling and Calibration: Insights into Desalinated Water Integration

The management of water availability in urban areas has become progressively more complex due to adverse climatic conditions and the continuous growth in water demand. These concerns have driven the search for alternative water supply sources, such as desalination, as well as the need for a deeper understanding of the hydraulic and operational behavior of water distribution systems (WDS) in the face of these challenges. This study presents an exploratory and integrative literature review on the modeling and calibration of WDS, with an emphasis on their application to the analysis of hydraulic and operational impacts associated with the integration of desalinated water into large-scale WDS. The results, supported by bibliometric analysis and a comparative assessment of 28 real-world calibration studies, highlight advances in modeling and calibration techniques and identify engineering-based trends and research gaps related to desalinated water integration in WDS. These include increased pressure heterogeneity associated with desalinated water injection points, challenges related to intermittent operation, and the need for properly managed storage reservoirs. Overall, the findings reinforce hydraulic modeling and calibration as central tools for the integrated assessment of desalination impacts in large-scale water distribution systems.