Optimization of Groundwater Level Monitoring Network Design using Particle Swarm Metaheuristic Method

Considering the complexity of groundwater media and high cost of groundwater monitoring, new innovative methods help us in the improvement of groundwater systems. In this research for minimizing overall data loss in total of optimized network, particle swarm optimization algorithm was used. In order to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm, one monitoring network with 57 observation wells was chosen. Later by reducing the number of monitoring wells to 42, the amount of RMSE was measured. Considering 0.3 as the threshold of error, the optimized network was obtained using the remaining 45 observation wells. A comparison of groundwater contours with original network showed that the solution of proposed algorithm is effective. In the remaining 42 observation wells there were some minor discrepancies. In comparison with genetic algorithm, the solution of PSO algorithm is better and has higher efficiency. Comparison of their RMSE also shows a faster convergence for PSO algorithm. Prediction of groundwater level contours in both models were possible and comparable too. Distribution of the omitted observation wells supported this comparison