AWWA DSS54644

The water utility industry has started investigating the integration of on-line telemetry and optimal computer control systems in an effort to reduce operating costs and provide more reliable operations. Energy costs constitute the largest expenditure for nearly all water utilities worldwide and can consume up to 65 percent of a water utility's annual operating budget. One of the greatest potential areas for energy cost-savings is the scheduling of daily pump operations. This paper presents a new management model, H2ONET Scheduler, for optimal control and operation of water distribution systems. The proposed model makes use of the latest advances in genetic algorithm optimization to automatically determine the least-cost pump scheduling/operation policy for each pump station in the water distribution system while satisfying target hydraulic performance requirements. The operation policy for a pump station represents a set of temporal rules or guidelines (individual pump operating times) that indicate when a particular pump or group of pumps should be turned on and off over the control period. System performance requirements prescribe lower and upper limits on nodal pressures; maximum pipe velocities; maximum pumped volumes; maximum and minimum storage tank levels; and, final tank volumes at the end of a specified time period to ensure hydraulic periodicity. The resulting model can be effectively used to evaluate various rate schedules, optimize storage/pumping trade-offs, improve operational efficiency, and assure more reliable operations. The method should prove useful to any water utility attempting to optimize pumping operations and reservoir control. Includes 6 references, figures.