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We are in the Systems Age of development and facing a number of related critical issues at a range of temporal and physical scales. These now threaten the world's environment and the human race's place in it. This paper discusses the array of problems involved and the need to tackle them at the systems level, to identify sustainable solutions and resilience measures to avoid large scale undesirable outcomes. There is a need to avoid the usual conclusion after such events that 'lessons must be learned'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper sets out five attributes which are critical to systems engineering approaches: future facing, the stance or attitude, general skills, a range of ways of thinking and skills in tackling complex and novel systems problems. Renowned for his work on systems engineering, Elms ([2]) offers clarity in the application of systems thinking to engineering problems. The paper concludes climate change, resilience and the UN SDGs are all systems level problems in which engineers must play their part in finding solutions. [Extracted from the article]

This Special Issue poses the question 'What is the Body of Knowledge for Engineers involved with Civil Engineering Systems?' There are some landmark systems concepts and some characteristic techniques. In that sense, there is a body of knowledge. But is a body of knowledge sufficient? Perhaps not. This paper gives a summary of how Sustainable Development guidelines were developed and embedded in the curricula requirements for civil engineering courses accredited by the Joint Board of Moderators in the UK and further afield. These requirements extended beyond parcels of Knowledge to include particular Skills and some Attitudes and Awareness. The development of these guidelines was all about systems and systems thinking. And whilst some systems tools and techniques have and continue to be used in narrower technical applications, they come into their own when examining and trying to resolve complex problems. And such problems will define the twenty-first century and humanity's place in it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the body of knowledge for engineers involved with civil engineering systems? Another phrase that captures Elms' view on systems can be found in his appreciation of David Blockley in the festschrift volume for the latter published by this journal, namely that "the systems approach is not easily systematised" (Elms [4]). As depicted in Table 1, other authors who tackle infrastructure are Lund and Elms, and also Gordon Masterton & Paul Jeffrey. For example, both Jowitt (explicitly) and Lund (implicitly) refer to the Harvard Water Programme (Maass et al. [7]), with Jowitt asking why such systems thinking emerged from a School of Public Administration, rather than from a civil engineering department; and why it took engineers and economists so long to catch up!. [Extracted from the article]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including civil engineering, disaster resilience, and provision of infrastructure.

One of the key drivers in the emergence of civil engineering systems in the 1960s as a field of discourse was the potential of developing greater engineering understanding using a range of systems models and the need for better engineering decisions and outcomes. Important engineering decisions generally fall into two types. Those that seek to minimise losses such as those associated with very low probability and high consequence catastrophic outcomes and those that seek to maximise opportunity between competing options. This short essay concerns the latter. The assessment of large-scale, wide impact engineering decisions has proved problematic. This stems from a number of factors. There are often many non-monetary impacts, the systems boundaries (in space and time) are not clear, the stakes are high and there are many stakeholders (some of whom are not involved in the decision process). All these factors mean that the use of Cost–Benefit analysis as a decision-making criterion is controversial, ambiguous and in some cases inappropriate. In addition, there are often other non-monetary factors to be considered. The consequence is that long-term infrastructure decisions get bogged down or deferred and the default decision is to do nothing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

And I hope that young teenage girl who was at my lecture in Christchurch in 2010 is now working on the systems level solutions to ensure a sustainable future. I am grateful to David Elms for his kind comments on my paper and for extending the conversation. [Extracted from the article]

This paper is a personal perspective on the development of systems in civil engineering and in particular the roles of Munro, Brown, Blockley, Elms and Jowitt. The paper traces the development of civil engineering systems thinking from the 1960s to the beginning of the twenty-first century - from hard systems, operational research methodologies to soft systems and reflective practice. It parallels the special contribution of Blockley in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examines some of the challenges related to international development, delivery of the UN Millennium Development Goals and the provision of effective infrastructure, in particular with respect to safe water supplies and sanitation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a case study which examines the development of an assessment and reporting framework for a particular property developer company (PDC) in Great Britain. It describes the problems and advantages of each framework and the lessons learned in the development of the methodology. It concludes that the assessment control is simple to apply, easy to characterize and relies on the self-assessment of strategic indicators.

In recent years, many researchers have tried to predict the behavior of the water distribution systems under pressure-deficient conditions. The root of the problem is that under these conditions the traditional demand-driven analysis will compute heads below the minimum required for outflow to occur physically at some or all of the nodes. The purpose of this paper is to present a novel algorithm for the solution of a water distribution network under pressure-deficient conditions, and is termed the pressure-deficient network algorithm (PDNA). The proposed model progressively introduces a set of artificial reservoirs into the network to initiate nodal flows, with the ultimate replacement of such reservoirs by full demand loads once it has become clear that the nodal flow can be satisfied. The foundation for the solution methodology is established using a series network for ease of discussion. The PDNA is presented in the form for coding into a computer program. For solving the flows in a looped network, the PDNA has to be used with a hydraulic network solver, as manual computation is too time consuming. Using the EPANET 2 hydraulic network solver, the PDNA is applied to both a single-source and a multiple-source network. The results show that the behavior of a water distribution system under pressure-deficient conditions is complex and nonintuitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, one of the key research areas for water distribution networks has been the quantification of network reliability. An interesting approach in this research topic is the use of informational entropy as a surrogate measure for the reliability of water distribution network. Research on water distribution network entropy has progressed to the stage where practical applications are possible, but the actual meaning of the network entropy has never been fully elucidated. Recently, an alternative approach to calculate network entropy was proposed, which was termed the path entropy method (PEM). This alternative method was shown to be useful for the case of single-source water distribution networks. The purpose of this article is to explore the use of the PEM on multiple-source networks. A two-source and two-demand water distribution network is analysed to gain insight into the differences between single-source and multiple-source networks in terms of maximum-entropy flow distribution. This leads to the formal proof of the principle governing maximum-entropy flow ratios in multiple-source water distribution networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several researchers have studied the use of informational entropy as a surrogate measure for the reliability of water distribution networks. The hypothesis is that the numerical value of network entropy in some way reflects the reliability of water distribution networks, and this appears to be supported by the analysis of some example water distribution networks. However, the precise relationship between the entropy value and some measures of reliability has not been formally established. The primary objective in this paper is to present an alternative methodology to calculate the informational entropy of water distribution networks. This methodology is termed as the Path Entropy Method (PEM), which provides some insights into the entropy of branching-tree networks and maximum-entropy flows of single-source networks. In addition, a quick method of computing the maximum-entropy value of single-source networks is presented and termed as the Simplified Path Entropy Method (SPEM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of water distribution networks has been extensively studied with the aid of computers, and the focus has shifted from merely satisfying the hydraulic requirements to fulfilling the need for reliability. One of the interesting research areas recently is the use of informational entropy as a surrogate measure for reliability. The actual meaning of the informational entropy for water distribution network has not been fully elucidated, and it was hypothesed that reliability is in some way proportional to the numerical value of network entropy. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between energy loss and network entropy. The investigation approach used is to take a simple looped network and individually vary the pipe diameters from zero to infinity, and calculate the corresponding network entropy and energy loss for the water distribution network. The results revealed many interesting observations in the variation of network entropy with pipe resistance coefficient K i , and the revelation of local maximum and minimum points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of a variety of reservoir yield estimation methods is described against the background of a review of yield in Scotland. The study is timely, both in the context of the possible effects of climate change, the institutional re-organisation of the water industry world-wide—but originating largely from the UK—and the emerging issues of sustainability and the shift from supply to demand side management. To set the paper in context, the study was undertaken just prior to the transfer of responsibility for water supply from regional councils to new water authorities in 1996, and following the quinquennial Scottish Office Environment Department''s survey of water resources in 1994. A comparative review of assessment methods was undertaken in order to recommend a flexible and consistent approach for single sources, but with a view to extending this to conjunctive schemes. A case study of Loch Bradan showed that the derivation of the inflow record and definition of the catchment boundary are at least as important as the yield assessment method itself. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including uncertainty, fuzzy logic and artificial intelligence techniques.

The article discusses the role of municipal engineers in international development. It mentions the United Nation's millennium development goals (MDG) which include the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, improvement of maternal health, and reduction of child mortality. It cites some of the problems encountered by municipal engineers concerning their work such as inadequate funding, lack of political will, and local skills shortages. Moreover, it notes that municipal engineers have the opportunity to promote effective urban infrastructure leading to economic, social, and environmental growth.

Effective integrated water management is a key component of the World Water Vision and the way in which aspirations for water equity may be realized. Part of the vision includes the promotion of sustainability of water systems and full accountability for their interaction with other urban systems. One major problem is that “sustainability” remains an elusive concept, although those involved with the provision of urban wastewater systems now recognize that decisions involving asset investment should use the “triple bottom line” approach to society, the economy, and the environment. The Sustainable Water Industry Asset Resource Decisions project has devised a flexible and adaptable framework of decision support processes that can be used to include the principles of sustainability more effectively. Decision mapping conducted at the outset of the project has shown that only a narrow range of criteria currently influence the outcome of asset investment decisions. This paper addresses the concepts of sustainability assessment and presents two case studies that illustrate how multicriteria decision support systems can enhance the assessment of the relative sustainability of a range of options when decisions are being made about wastewater asset investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new approach to analyzing water distribution networks during a contamination event. Previous computer models for predicting the extent of contamination spread in water distribution networks are demand-driven models. The new approach makes use of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data to create connectivity matrices, which encapsulate the worst-case projection of the potential spread of contamination obtained by combining the effects of all possible scenarios. Two methods for creating connectivity matrices are described, the first based on operating modes, and the second on fundamental paths. Both methods produce identical results, although the method of fundamental paths is more efficient computationally. The connectivity- and hydraulic-based approaches are compared using an example problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]