Water Distribution Management in Irrigation and Drainage Networks, Using Geospatial Information Systems, Ant Colony Optimization and Travelling Salesman Problem Approach

Population increase, excessive consumption, agriculture development and climate change have caused a severe decrease in water sources. This dilemma is more tangible in developing countries such as Iran. Therefore it is necessary to adopt important policies in order to improve water management and decrease the water loss. The aim of this research is helping to improve the management of water distribution in irrigation and drainage network in GharaZia-addin city using Spatial Information Systems and Ant Colony Optimization. In this paper, the optimum area for each crop was calculated by designing an objective function and applying constraints such as minimum and maximum plant area for each crop. Then these areas were prioritized by Ant Colony Optimization method and particularly by the travelling salesman problem’s approach in a way that the crops with higher irrigation water demands and more irrigation periods to be planted in the beginning of the network channel. The aim of prioritization is to prevent the water loss during the transportation of water in the water network system. At the end, the obtained areas were used as the input data into GIS to analyze and evaluate the results on the case study field. The results of the study show that by applying Ant Colony Optimization method and the Travelling Salesman Problem, it is possible to improve water management in irrigation and drainage networks. In addition to prevention of water loss in the pipes, the net profit of the agricultural activities has increased 10% by using the method mentioned above