Drinking water distribution system optimization considering energy, pipe, pump, and tank costs

The drinking water distribution system is a series of processes that play a role in distributing drinking water through a pipeline network starting from the processing area to the service area. Each component in this system, such as pumps, pipes, tanks, and nodes can be formulated into an optimization problem. The main objective is the minimization of the distribution costs, which depends on the energy costs, pipeline costs, tank costs, and pump costs. In the present paper, a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model is proposed for the synthesis of water distribution system by considering the costs of the 4 components that make up the drinking water distribution system. There are five decision variables considered in this model, namely the amount of flow velocity, water flowrate, the diameter of each pipe, the diameter of the tank, and the number of pumps that will be installed in the distribution system. To find out the applicable examples of using the model, problem solving was carried out based on a quasi-case study. Then the results are obtained in the form of the optimal distribution cost value which has taken into account the amount of energy costs, pipe costs, tank costs, and pump costs in the drinking water distribution system.