Currently, Qatium only supports water age to calculate water quality. 

In water quality modeling, water age refers to the time it takes for water to travel from a water source to consumers. The lower water age, the better water quality. It can help you understand how fresh the water is at different points—especially useful when monitoring water quality and identifying areas with stagnant water.

If your hydraulic model includes the initial water age for each junction, you’ll get to gain more insights on water quality from the Water Age plugin. If not, don’t worry—we can help you enable it.

How to enable water age in your model

When water enters your network (from a reservoir, for example), its age is zero. As it flows through pipes, its age increases.

Without setting up initial water age correctly, simulations might not show realistic results—especially if water needs more than 24 hours to travel through the network. That’s why we recommend adjusting your model to reflect realistic initial conditions.

Setting up water age is a technical task that involves preparing your hydraulic model in a specific way. If you or your team are familiar with EPANET, you can follow the full procedure. Otherwise, we’re here to help—just contact us and we’ll set it up for you.

Here’s a simplified overview of the process:

1. First, you need an .inp model with updated demand data
   Start with a model file that reflects your network’s demand patterns for an average day. This will give more accurate results.
2. Run a longer simulation with water quality enabled
   1. Open the model in EPANET
   2. Switch the Quality option to “Age”
   3. Extend the simulation duration by changing the Time Option Total Duration from"24:00" into “336:00” (24h*14 days). This helps simulate water behavior more realistically over time.
3. Check when water age stabilizes
   Run the simulation and monitor how the water age changes at key points (like remote junctions or tanks). The value will grow until it stabilizes around a value, for example 50h. 
4. Extract and apply the stabilized values
   Use the stabilized water age values as the initial conditions in your model. This step ensures future simulations start with more realistic data.
5. Import the updated model back into Qatium
   Once the model includes the initial water age setup, you can upload it to Qatium and start getting more detailed water age insights.