Modeling and optimization of clean water distribution networks

Abstract

In this study, a model has been developed to find the minimum cost in distributing clean water. Linear Programming (LP) technique was used to formulate the model for Dodoma city. The developed model consists of both hydraulic and water treatment parameters. The model was then tested with real data collected from Ihumwa water network of Dodoma city and other treatment cost data from the literature to test the workability of the model. Hydraulic parameters such as head loss of the pipes, flow velocity and pipe pressure are calculated using water flow software. The resulted model was solved using lingo software by testing different intermediate values of pressure and velocity to obtain the minimum cost of distributing clean water. As a result, the values 650 N/m 2 and 700 N/m 2 as a maximum and minimum pressure and 0.5m/s and 2m/s as minimum and maximum velocity give the minimum cost of distributing clean water. Consequently, the objective value of resulted optimization model shows that the original cost of distributing clean water was reduced by 3.48%.