Flexible decision-making framework for developing operation protocol for water distribution systems

Area of Science:

• Environmental Engineering
• Water Resource Management
• Systems Analysis

Background:

• Traditional water distribution system (WDS) management relies on residual chlorine, neglecting emerging water quality concerns.
• Mechanistic modeling has advanced WDS water quality analysis, but lacks integration with broader quality parameters.
• Current WDS protocols may not adequately address complex water quality challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a flexible decision-making framework for WDS management.
• To integrate mechanistic water quality modeling (EPANET-C) with multi-criteria decision-making (AHP).
• To rank operating alternatives based on multiple water quality parameters, including organic matter and residual chlorine.

Main Methods:

• Developed a framework integrating EPANET-C and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP).
• Incorporated uncertainty analysis using the Monte Carlo method for mechanistic modeling.
• Applied six diverse cases to reflect expert judgment and tested on two networks.

Main Results:

• The framework successfully ranked operating alternatives considering multiple water quality criteria.
• Disinfection by-product formation and taste/odor control were critical factors in WDS performance.
• The study identified trade-offs between conflicting microbiological, chemical, and organoleptic quality criteria.

Conclusions:

• A flexible operation protocol is practical for maintaining water quality benchmarks in WDS.
• The proposed framework enhances WDS management by considering a wider range of water quality parameters.
• The approach provides a robust method for optimizing WDS performance under various scenarios.