EPANET Water Distribution Network Modelling Training Course

Course overview

Water utilities, engineering consultancies, and humanitarian WASH programmes must decide where to extend pipes, raise service pressure, manage intermittent supply, or reduce pumping cost—often with incomplete asset records and limited field measurements. A spreadsheet cannot show whether a proposed change creates low pressure at remote standposts, excessive velocity in trunk mains, tank depletion overnight, or insufficient residual chlorine. This course enables practitioners to turn available network data into an auditable EPANET model that supports design reviews, operational choices, donor proposals, and phased investment plans.

Participants build and analyse water distribution models in EPANET 2.2, beginning with network schematisation, node demands, pipe properties, reservoirs, tanks, pumps, valves, and demand patterns. They run steady-state and extended-period simulations; interpret pressure, flow, velocity, headloss, tank level, energy, water age, and chlorine results; and test operational and design alternatives. The course also covers model calibration using field pressure and flow data, quality assurance checks, pressure-zone analysis, fire-flow testing, and clear presentation of findings for non-modellers.

Delivered over five instructor-led days in a classroom or live online format, the programme combines demonstrations with guided model-building, troubleshooting clinics, and a realistic utility network case. Participants work through structured EPANET exercises and complete a capstone analysis of a network improvement scenario. Each participant leaves with an EPANET project file, documented modelling assumptions, scenario results, a model QA checklist, and a concise technical findings note suitable for internal review. A certificate is issued on completion.

The course is designed for professionals moving from network data collection, hydraulic calculations, GIS mapping, or operational engineering into practical distribution-system modelling. It is equally relevant to staff who need to commission, review, or use EPANET studies without becoming full-time modellers.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Build a functioning EPANET 2.2 network model using junctions, pipes, reservoirs, tanks, pumps, valves, and demand categories
• Allocate base demands and time patterns to represent domestic, institutional, commercial, and intermittent-supply consumption
• Run steady-state and extended-period simulations and interpret pressure, flow, velocity, headloss, and tank-level outputs
• Configure pump curves, pump controls, tank operating levels, and valve settings for operational scenario testing
• Assess pressure-zone performance, critical nodes, fire-flow capacity, and unacceptable velocity or pressure conditions
• Model water age and chlorine residual behaviour using EPANET water-quality source and reaction settings
• Calibrate and validate a model against field pressure, flow, reservoir level, and pump-operation observations
• Produce an auditable EPANET project package with assumptions, QA checks, scenario comparisons, maps, and technical recommendations

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Water Distribution Engineers — who design, rehabilitate, or operate pipe networks and need defensible hydraulic evidence
• WASH Engineers — who develop water-supply systems for humanitarian and development programmes
• Utility Operations Engineers — who need to test pumping, storage, pressure, and valve changes before implementation
• Hydraulic Modellers — who require a practical EPANET workflow for building and checking distribution models
• GIS and Asset Management Officers — who prepare network spatial data and asset attributes for engineering analysis
• Infrastructure Project Managers — who review network-investment options and need to challenge modelling assumptions

Requirements and prerequisites

This is a foundation-to-intermediate course. Participants should be comfortable using a Windows computer, managing files, and working with basic engineering units such as litres per second, metres, pressure, and pipe diameter. Familiarity with water-distribution components—pipes, pumps, tanks, valves, and customer demand—is helpful, as is the ability to read a simple network map. Prior EPANET experience is not required. Advanced hydraulic theory, programming, GIS expertise, and prior use of commercial modelling platforms such as WaterGEMS are not required. Complete beginners should expect to spend the first day learning network terminology and the EPANET modelling interface before progressing to analysis.

Training methodology

The instructor demonstrates each EPANET workflow on a utility-scale example, then participants reproduce it in guided exercises using prepared network data. Short technical sessions explain the hydraulic assumptions behind the software outputs before learners apply them to pipe sizing, pressure zones, pumps, tanks, valves, and demand patterns. Teams compare operational alternatives and defend recommendations using maps and result tables. Daily troubleshooting addresses common modelling errors, including disconnected networks, unrealistic demands, unstable controls, and incorrect elevations. The final session uses a capstone scenario and an individual application plan for the participant’s own network or programme context.

Course outline

Day 1: Building a reliable EPANET network base model

• Water-distribution modelling questions for utility and WASH decisions
• EPANET 2.2 interface, project settings, units, and map controls
• Network schematisation from maps, asset registers, and as-built drawings
• Junction, reservoir, tank, pipe, pump, and valve element definitions
• Elevation data, pipe length, diameter, roughness, and minor-loss inputs
• Base demand allocation and demand-category structure
• Network connectivity checks and first hydraulic model run

Workshop: Participants construct a base EPANET model from a supplied network map and asset-data sheet, then produce an initial connectivity and input-data QA record.

Day 2: Hydraulic inputs, demand representation, and system controls

• Hazen-Williams, Darcy-Weisbach, and Manning headloss method selection
• Demand patterns for daily variation, intermittent supply, and peak demand
• Reservoir head settings and tank geometry, levels, and operating limits
• Pump curves, pump efficiency, and energy-price inputs
• Pressure-reducing, pressure-sustaining, flow-control, and check valve behaviour
• Simple controls and rule-based controls for pumps and valves
• Initial conditions, solver settings, and hydraulic convergence diagnostics

Workshop: Participants configure a pumping and storage system with hourly demand patterns and create control rules that maintain tank levels over a 24-hour period.

Day 3: Extended-period analysis and network performance testing

• Extended-period simulation setup and reporting intervals
• Pressure-zone analysis and identification of critical service nodes
• Pipe flow direction, velocity limits, and headloss interpretation
• Minimum-pressure assessment at standposts, connections, and elevated areas
• Fire-flow scenario testing and residual-pressure checks
• Alternative analysis for pipe reinforcement, booster pumps, and storage changes
• Scenario comparison using EPANET maps, graphs, tables, and saved project versions

Workshop: Participants test three alternatives for resolving low pressure in a growing service area and prepare a ranked recommendation based on hydraulic results.

Day 4: Water quality modelling, calibration, and model confidence

• Water age simulation for storage turnover and remote-network analysis
• Chlorine source types, initial concentration, and bulk reaction settings
• Wall reaction coefficients and practical limits of water-quality assumptions
• Constituent tracing for source-zone and mixing analysis
• Field data requirements for pressure, flow, tank level, and pump-status calibration
• Calibration workflow using observed-versus-modelled results
• Model validation, sensitivity testing, and assumptions-register documentation

Workshop: Participants calibrate a supplied model against pressure logger and flow-meter observations, then document parameter changes and remaining uncertainty.

Day 5: Model QA, reporting, and operational application

• Structured model QA checks for topology, units, demand, elevations, and controls
• Diagnosing negative pressures, disconnected nodes, unstable controls, and unrealistic flows
• Preparing decision maps and result tables for managers and non-technical stakeholders
• Exporting network data and results for QGIS-based map presentation
• Comparing capital-investment and operational-management options
• EPANET file management, version control, and handover documentation
• Capstone model review and workplace application planning

Workshop: Participants complete a capstone review of a network-upgrade case and submit an EPANET project package, QA checklist, scenario summary, and action plan.

Tools & standards covered

EPANET 2.2, QGIS, AWWA M32 Computer Modeling of Water Distribution Systems, ISO 24512

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions