Book excerpt: Introduction to Urban Water Distribution comprises the core training material used in the Master of Science programme in Urban Water and Sanitation at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education. Participants in this programme are professionals working in the water and sanitation sector from over forty, predominantly developing, countries from all parts of the world. Outside this diverse audience, the most appropriate readers are those who know little or nothing about the subject. However, experts dealing with advanced problems can also use it as a refresher of their knowledge, as well as the teachers in this field may like to use some of the contents in their educational programmes. The general focus in the book is on understanding the steady-state hydraulics that forms the basis of hydraulic design and computer modelling applied in water distribution. The main purpose of the workshop problems and three computer exercises is to develop a temporal and spatial perception of the main hydraulic parameters in the system for given layout and demand scenarios. Furthermore, the book contains a detailed discussion on water demand, which is a fundamental element of any network analysis, and general principles of network construction, operation and maintenance. The book includes nearly 700 illustrations and the accompanying electronic materials contain all the spreadsheet applications and the network model files used in solving the workshop problems and computer exercises. This book is the first volume of the Introduction to Urban Water Distribution, 2nd Edition set.