Optimal Pressure Control for Leakage Minimization in Water Distribution Networks

Water leakage in the water distribution networks results in losses of supply, pressure, and capital investment. Therefore, efforts to reduce the leakage in the water distribution networks have great importance. A common way to reduce pressure is the installation of flow or pressure reducing valves (PRV) and the optimal regulation of these valves in water networks. This study aims at investigating the optimum management of pressure in order to minimize the leakage in water distribution networks. For this purpose, the optimal placement and setting for pressure relief valves, with minimum allowable pressure in the nodes, is considered as the main constraint of the problem. In the present research, to solve these problems, an optimization model—a simulation based on an emerging algorithm called Cultural Algorithm (CA)—was used. In this model, the CA optimization in MATLAB environment was integrated with the hydraulic simulation of the EPANET model. The results revealed that, considering all the limitations of the problem, employing this method to determine the position of the pressure reducing valves and regulating them lowered the mean leakage rate of the network by 10% in three periods of maximum, average, and minimum water demand.