An evolution program for optimal pressure regulation in water distribution networks

Leakage losses in a water distribution network increase significantly for higher pressures and an obvbious way of reducing losses is by reducing network pressures. This paper presents a methodology for pressure regulation in a water distribution network using an evolution program, encompassing the principles of evolutionary design and genetic algorithms. The optimization problem of minimizing the pressure heads is formulated with the settings of isolating valves as decision variables and minimum allowable pressures as constraints. The algorithm developed incorporates a steady-state network hydraulic analysis model based on the linear theory method. Computational results for two example networks demonstrating the effectiveness of the methodology are presented.