A Decision Support System for Acquedotto Pugliese

Abstract

Acquedotto Pugliese S.p.A. (better known by its acronym AQP) is one of the largest historic Italian companies and among the largest European players, in size and complexity, in the management of integrated water systems. It is a large public company, entirely controlled by the region of Puglia, with revenues in 2016 of 550 million euros and 16 million in profits. ASECO S.p.A. is a leading composting company. Acquedotto Pugliese S.p.A. serves a population of over 4.5 million people living in an area that affects three regions of southern Italy: Puglia, Campania and Basilicata. In order to meet the water demand coming from the different territories, AQP manages a highly complex water system, which consists of supply plants (purification works, water treatment plants and wells), raising plants and interconnected water carriers. The power of such a system is guaranteed by a variety of sources, such as springs, wells and large reservoirs. The optimal management of this complexity necessitates a decision support system: Acquedotto Pugliese represented the whole supply and transportation system within a model that uses the software Aquator, an application of Oxford Scientific Software (A Guide to Aquator Aquator, Water Resources Modelling Software by Oxford Scientific Software. Oxford Scientific Software Ltd, 2016). The information resulting from such software is used to:

• plan and manage the resource in an optimal manner;

• define investments for the implementation and/or renewal of the overall system;

• classify possible risk events, with consequent evaluation of their effects and relative solutions.