Robust optimization of valve management to improve water quality in WDNs under demand uncertainty

Water quality deterioration in water distribution networks can be associated with high water residence time in the network. To this end, some previous studies have proposed optimization procedures for valve management. However, these studies generally come up with operational configurations assuming deterministic user demand patterns that may never occur in reality. In consequence, the proposed solutions may not be effective for improving water quality or do not comply with pressure constraints if different demand patterns are observed. This study proposes a methodology to determine robust configurations of the valves to keep water residence time at acceptable levels regardless of the variability in demand patterns. The methodology is tested on four different distribution systems of varying topology and size. Results show the importance of executing robust – instead of deterministic, optimization to find valve configurations that guarantee the performance of the networks in terms of hydraulics and water quality.