A Simulation-Optimization Approach for Reducing Background Leakage in Water Systems

This paper forms an entry to the battle of background leakage assessment for water networks (BBLAWN). The proposed method- ology for this problem is a sequential assessment of intervention types. In an initial stage, a diagnosis of the network is performed through simulating its hydraulic behaviour with no infrastructure or operational modifications. An optimization technique is de- veloped to recommended improvements of a particular type, such as pipes to replace. These techniques are applied sequentially to yield a list of suggested improvements for the network. Our approach requires a hydraulic model that simulates background leakage, custom implementations of heuristic algorithms and optimization solvers.