Illustrative: potential-flow streamlines around a body with tracer bands moving at the local speed and a wake that sways downstream

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Course catalogue · Infrastructure, Energy and Industry

Utility Networks

Water and wastewater systems

Water and wastewater systems, taught twice over: as the working methods of the field and as its frontier since 2024, with labs on the Academy's tools, open data and the Nexus Standards.

Core course Frontier course

The discipline

01Core course · L2 Intermediate

Water and wastewater systems: foundations and practice

This area covers drinking water supply, distribution networks, wastewater collection and treatment as engineered infrastructure: their hydraulics, asset condition, dependencies on power and chemicals, and the hazards that disrupt them.

Level
L2 Intermediate
Study time
about 24 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
An L1 course in the area, or an entry review

Why now

Utilities face new limits and new uses at once: the US EPA's 2024 national drinking water standard for six PFAS, the recast EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (2024) with micropollutant removal and extended producer responsibility, and wastewater surveillance kept on after COVID-19. US EPA, Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) national primary drinking water regulation, 2024

Learning outcomes

  1. Define water safety plan and the other key terms of the discipline and use them correctly in a written case
  2. Explain water supply, treatment and distribution networks and wastewater collection, treatment and reuse with a worked example and its source
  3. Apply the discipline's method to a documented case and explain each result with its source
  4. Analyse a named case against hydraulic modelling of networks, stating evidence, date and limits

Modules

  1. Water supply, treatment and distribution networks
    • Water supply, treatment and distribution networks
    • Wastewater collection, treatment and reuse
    • Hydraulic modelling of networks
  2. Asset condition, leakage and renewal
    • Asset condition, leakage and renewal
    • Water safety plans
    • Drought, flood and contamination risk to utilities
  3. Dependence on power, chemicals and telecommunications
    • Dependence on power, chemicals and telecommunications
    • Cyber and physical security of water systems
    • Combined sewer overflows and stormwater
  4. Lab: the discipline's method
    • A network's burst rate per hundred kilometres rises as its mains age; bursts drive real losses and interruptions; replacing a share of the network each year removes the worst pipes and slows the rise; the renewal rate is the number a utility and its regulator decide.
    • Work the method through a documented case and explain each result
    • Read the method's sources and stated values

Labs with Academy tools

Open data

Assessment

  • 40%Lab recordWork the discipline's method through a documented case and explain each result with its source and date
  • 40%Case memoApply the discipline's methods to a named place or organisation, stating evidence and limits
  • 20%Key terms checkShort answers on the key terms, marked against the definitions

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Intermediate, 4 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. Kleiner and Rajani, Comprehensive review of structural deterioration of water mains: statistical models, 2001
  2. Kumpel and Nelson, Intermittent water supply: prevalence, practice, and microbial water quality, 2016
  3. Butler et al., Reliable, resilient and sustainable water management: the Safe and SuRe approach, 2014
02Live map

Water now in the Zambezi Basin

Rain, flood water and root-zone soil moisture from NASA satellites and models, with long-term water stress, over the Zambezi Basin.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 2

Water now

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Water now, framed on the Zambezi Basin.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • GPM IMERG precipitation, NASA Precipitation Processing System; distributed by the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • SMAP Level 4 soil moisture and snow mass, NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office; distributed by the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • GRACE and GRACE-FO JPL mascon solution, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; distributed by the NASA Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO.DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • GHRSST Level 4 MUR analyses, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; distributed by the NASA Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO.DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • River discharge forecast, 30 days with range (GloFAS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information 2026; not a flood warning.
  • Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
  • Past year, daily temperature and sunshine (NASA POWER): These data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) POWER Project funded through the NASA Earth Science/Applied Science Program..
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (13 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Precipitation rate, daily mean: GPM IMERG, NASA GES DISC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
  • Root-zone soil moisture, 0 to 100 cm: SMAP Level 4, NASA NSIDC DAAC · 11 Oct 2026
  • Snow cover: VIIRS NOAA-20 NDSI, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Water storage anomaly, monthly: GRACE-FO JPL mascons, NASA JPL PO.DAAC · July 2022
  • Sea surface temperature anomaly: GHRSST MUR25, NASA JPL PO.DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026

03How learning runs

How learning runs, as a process you can run

Select a scenario and press Play: course, pathway, practice, faculty, cells and record.

04What is changing

What is changing, with standards and evidence

Water and wastewater systems: frontier methods

The methods, data, tools and studies that changed water and wastewater systems between 2024 and 2026, taught by reproducing them on open data.

Level
L3 Advanced
Study time
about 28 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
Water and wastewater systems: foundations and practice; Working knowledge of a scripting language (Python or R) for the labs

Why now

Utilities face new limits and new uses at once: the US EPA's 2024 national drinking water standard for six PFAS, the recast EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (2024) with micropollutant removal and extended producer responsibility, and wastewater surveillance kept on after COVID-19. US EPA, Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) national primary drinking water regulation, 2024

Learning outcomes

  1. Explain what changed in water and wastewater systems since 2024 and cite the studies, data or rules behind each change
  2. Reproduce water safety planning on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  3. Evaluate a 2024 to 2026 study: its question, data, method, limits and what it changes for practice
  4. Design an analysis that combines a frontier method with the faculty's instruments, and justify each choice

Modules

  1. Water safety planning
    • WHO water safety plans from catchment to tap
    • Hazard analysis for treatment and distribution
    • Climate resilience of supply
  2. Emerging contaminants
    • PFAS chemistry, treatment options and costs
    • Micropollutants and quaternary treatment
    • Monitoring under uncertainty
  3. Wastewater as a sensor
    • Wastewater-based epidemiology methods
    • Normalisation, sampling design and privacy
    • From signal to public health action
  4. Asset and cyber resilience
    • Network failure models and leakage
    • Operational technology security in utilities
    • Interdependence with power
  5. Reproduction lab
    • Extend the discipline's method with one frontier method and compare its results
    • State the uncertainty and the limits of the result
    • Peer review against a shared checklist
  6. Technology that helps and the risks it carries
    • Digital twins, sensors and robotics for inspection.
    • Cascading cyber-physical failure and vendor lock-in.

Labs with Academy tools

Open data

Assessment

  • 50%Method reproductionReproduce one frontier method on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  • 30%Study reviewA critical review of a 2024 to 2026 study: question, data, method, limits, what it changes
  • 20%Peer reviewReview two other learners' reproductions against a shared checklist

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Expert, 6 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

References

  1. US EPA, Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) national primary drinking water regulation, 2024
  2. EUR-Lex, Directive (EU) 2020/2184 on the quality of water intended for human consumption, 2020
  3. EUR-Lex, Directive (EU) 2024/3019 concerning urban wastewater treatment (recast), 2024 to check
  4. Kleiner and Rajani, Comprehensive review of structural deterioration of water mains: statistical models, 2001
  5. Kumpel and Nelson, Intermittent water supply: prevalence, practice, and microbial water quality, 2016
  6. Butler et al., Reliable, resilient and sustainable water management: the Safe and SuRe approach, 2014
05Take part

Take part in the work

Start from who you are.

06Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is the course free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the course?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

Water safety plan

A risk assessment and management approach covering every step from catchment to consumer, promoted by WHO.

Term

Non-revenue water

Water produced but not billed, through leakage, metering error or unauthorised use.

Term

Combined sewer overflow

A discharge of untreated sewage and stormwater when a combined sewer's capacity is exceeded.

Term

Hydraulic model

A model of pressures and flows in a pipe network used to plan and operate it.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

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