Water pinch analysis for an urban system: a case study on the Sultan Ismail Mosque at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)

This paper describes how the water cascade analysis (WCA) technique, based on the pinch analysis concept, was adapted to establish the minimum water targets for the Sultan Ismail Mosque at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The WCA is a numerical alternative to the graphical water targeting technique known as a water surplus diagram. Two cases were analysed using WCA to predict potential savings with reuse as well as with reuse and regeneration. The results were compared with the savings predicted via a conventional water management solution. The conventional system predicted reductions of 25% fresh water and 19.8% wastewater. The WCA technique predicted savings of 65.1% fresh water and 51.5% wastewater with reuse only, and up to 85.5% fresh water and 67.7% wastewater with reuse and regeneration. The WCA technique based on the pinch analysis concept can rapidly yield accurate minimum water targets, pinch-point locations and water allocation targets for an urban water network.