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Data-driven, model-free control for reliable operation of water distribution systems: Implementation, benchmarking
Daniela Villacres1, Saskia A Putri1, Faegheh Moazeni1
1Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, Lehigh University, 27 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, 18015, PA, USA.
Water Research
|June 22, 2026
Summary
This study presents a data-driven approach for water distribution system control, significantly reducing data needs and computational costs for real-time pump operations.
Area of Science:
- Engineering
- Control Systems
- Water Management
Background:
- Water distribution systems (WDSs) require complex control to meet demand, maintain pressure, and manage storage.
- Traditional methods often rely on hydraulic models, which are data-intensive and difficult to calibrate.
- Real-time control (RTC) is crucial for efficient WDS operation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a novel, data-driven framework for computing pump commands in WDSs.
- To eliminate the need for hydraulic model construction and calibration in WDS control.
- To demonstrate the efficacy of a model-free approach for RTC of WDSs.
Main Methods:
- A framework computing pump commands directly from operational data was developed.
- The approach was validated on a quadruple-tank process (QTP) and a small-scale WDS.
- Performance was evaluated across simulation, hardware, and real-time execution scenarios.
Main Results:
- The controller maintained tank levels and pressures within bounds with <4% MAPE using only 200 data samples.
- Achieved >99% less data requirement compared to model predictive control (MPC).
- Reduced computational cost by 90% on a small-scale WDS while ensuring demand satisfaction and safety.
Conclusions:
- Data-driven, model-free approaches offer a practical and data-efficient alternative for WDS RTC.
- The proposed framework significantly outperforms traditional MPC in terms of data and computational efficiency.
- This method holds potential for modernizing WDS operations and improving system reliability.
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