Digital Twins - A new paradigm for water supply and distribution networks

A digital twin (DT) is a virtual copy (a digital model) of a real system continuously fed with data to mimic the systems’ past, present and future behaviour. This makes it possible to detect anomalies, test new ideas and changes in the virtual system and assess how it reacts, minimizing the risks to the real system. In this sense, the DT can be seen as a playground to explore the effects of different scenarios and to practice how to best react and operate the physical system under these circumstances. The concept of DT has been used traditionally in the industry field1 but it can also be developed and exploited in a city management context, and in particular in Water Supply and Distribution Networks (WSDN), where it can be applied to all aspects of the system