Toward a Metamodelling Approach for Water Distribution Systems

Water Distribution Systems (WDSs) are critical infrastructures that ensure the reliable supply of water to urban and industrial areas. Modern WDSs have evolved into complex cyberphysical systems and smart environments, integrating advanced sensing, control, and data analytics technologies to enhance efficiency, resilience, and sustainability. The design and management of these systems are inherently complex due to the interplay of hydraulic, environmental, and operational factors. Given the scale and complexity of WDSs, adopting robust modeling approaches is essential to optimize their design, operation, and maintenance. Despite the recognized need for systematic methodologies, existing approaches often lack a structured framework for modeling WDSs at a high level of abstraction. This paper proposes a metamodeling approach to WDSs by leveraging the Smart Environment Metamodel (SEM) framework. SEM offers a structured methodology for representing complex systems, enabling a more systematic and adaptable approach to WDS modeling. SEM can play a pivotal role in the design of critical systems like WDSs, as it allows designers to embed mechanisms for protection and resilience, ensuring that vulnerabilities are identified and mitigated throughout the development process. This study explores the application of SEM in the WDSs domain, highlighting its potential benefits. In addition, it discusses how SEM can be further enhanced to better address specific challenges of WDSs, paving the way for more advanced, intelligent, and adaptive water distribution infrastructures.