Editorial: Hydroinformatics for water distribution systems analysis and management

Urban water distribution systems (WDS) analysis and management is a very complex challenge for researchers and technicians. Such a labyrinth contains numerous processes, sub-processes, states of being with their associated causative factors, feedback loops and interrelationships (Colombo & Karney 2003). This special issue is an occasion to study and analyse specific processes in the broader and stronger view of the entire labyrinth. The selected papers focus on some of the most important problems of urban WDS management, trying to help orientate researchers and planners, like Theseus and the Minotaur, in the labyrinth of the various concerns and processes involved in urban WDS planning (Figure 1). Figure 1 The labyrinth of WDS (modified by Macaulay 1976). This issue contains 10 papers that have been selected among those presented at the 16th Conference on Water Distribution System Analysis, WDSA 2014 (Bari, Italy, 14-17 July 2014), as very interesting studies and applications of Hydroinformatics techniques to WDS analysis and management. The selected papers have been fully rewritten, completed and improved and have undergone a rigorous peer-review process. The key points of the issue are: