Smart Water Management in Agriculture: a Proposal for an Optimal Scheduling Formulation of a Gravity Water Distribution System

Agriculture represents one of the most water demanding sectors and its role is central on defining water saving policies. In this work, we propose an improved approach to the irrigation scheduling problem, reducing water wastage while satisfying farmers\u2019 demands and crops\u2019 water needs.For water distribution system managed with on-demand distribution approach, the efficiency of irrigation relies on the ability of the network manager (i.e., gatekeeper) to guarantee a proper service, consisting in: the irrigation scheduling, the definition of the volume of water passing through the channels at a given time, and the operations on gates and sluices to make the water reach the farms. Consequently, the irrigation scheduling inefficiencies might be limited by: i) reducing the water wastage, ii) minimizing the gatekeeper work and iii) maximizing the satisfaction of the farmers\u2019 requirements.We propose an improved mixed-integer linear optimization formulation that adds the possibility to store water in the channels and takes seepage into account. This new formulation is able to better represent the physical behavior of the water flow in the channels network, also avoiding the presence of flooding. The proposed optimization solution is embedded within a wider monitoring framework with the intent to fully exploit the availability of a complex network of models, repositories and sensors installed in the field.The resulting problem is solved by one of the most used optimization solvers (IBM ILOG Cplex) and tested on a synthetic benchmark. Furthermore, we validate the results on a digital copy of the network that performs a hydraulic simulation of the irrigation system. The scheduling is accepted if the water introduced in the system can satisfy farmers\u2019 requests with the considered timing and does not produce flooding

Solving the multi-period water distribution network design problem with a hybrid simulated anealling

This work presents an optimization technique based on Simulated Annealing (SA) to solve the Water Distribution Network Design problem, considering multi-period restrictions with time varying demand patterns. The design optimization of this kind of networks is an important issue in modern cities, since a safe, adequate, and accessible supply of potable water is one of the basic necessities of any human being. Given the complexity of this problem, the SA is improved with a local search procedure, yielding a hybrid SA, in order to obtain good quality networks designs. Additionally, four variants of this algorithm based on different cooling schemes are introduced and analyzed. A broad experimentation using different benchmark networks is carried out to test our proposals. Moreover, a comparison with an approach from the literature reveals the goodness to solve this network design problem.Fil: Bermudez, Carlos Alberto. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Salto, Carolina. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Confluencia; ArgentinaFil: Minetti, Gabriela Fabiana. Universidad Nacional de la Pampa. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentin

Ottimizzazione di una rete di distribuzione idrica nela rispetto integrale del livello di servizio

La progettazione delle reti di distribuzione idrica \ue8 un problema complesso e di difficile risoluzione, anche nella formulazione pi\uf9 semplice in cui si consideri il solo rispetto del valore di pressione minima. Il lavoro presenta un confronto tra le migliori soluzioni ottenute applicando due algoritmi di tipo euristico ovvero l\u2019algoritmo GHEST (Genetic Heritage Evolution by Stochastic Transmission) e l\u2019algoritmo genetico multi-obiettivo NSGA-II. Nell\u2019ottica di rapportarsi ad un caso reale, lo studio si \ue8 basato sulla rete di distribuzione idrica primaria di Modena. Gli algoritmi sono stati applicati a due diversi scenari, caratterizzati da vincoli di pressione pi\uf9 o meno stringenti, dal rispetto parziale a quello integrale del livello di servizio esistente nella rete reale. Le soluzioni ottime, in termini di distribuzione dei diametri e di costo, nonch\ue9 i relativi valori di esercizio (pressioni e velocit\ue0) sono stati posti a confronto con quelli della rete attuale. Lo studio ha inoltre permesso un confronto in termini di prestazioni computazionali e di qualit\ue0 dei risultati fra i tradizionali fronti di soluzioni non dominate ottenuti da NSGA-II e gli pseudo-fronti costruiti mediante GHEST

ASSESSMENT OF WATER SHORTAGE IN URBAN AREAS

Recent history has demonstrated that extreme hydrological events such as floods and drought can create additional stress on water supplies essential for human and ecosystem health. As stated several times by European Environmental Agency, the prudent and efficient use of water is thus an important issue in Europe and a number of policies and mechanisms are being used or are being formulated to ensure sustainable use of water in the long term. Urban uses are responsible of almost the 17% of the total European fresh water consumption and it is rapidly growing depending on the extension of urban areas and concentration of population in cities. The present chapter will discuss the phases in the development of a drought management plan starting from the estimation of water supplies and demands, the evaluation of drought risk and urban area vulnerability and, finally, planning procedures and possible mitigation measures

Assessment of water shortage in urban areas

Recent history has demonstrated that extreme hydrological events such as floods and drought can create additional stress on water supplies essential for human and ecosystem health. As stated several times by European Environmental Agency, the prudent and efficient use of water is thus an important issue in Europe and a number of policies and mechanisms are being used or are being formulated to ensure sustainable use of water in the long term. Urban uses are responsible of almost the 17% of the total European fresh water consumption and it is rapidly growing depending on the extension of urban areas and concentration of population in cities. The present chapter will discuss the phases in the development of a drought management plan starting from the estimation of water supplies and demands, the evaluation of drought risk and urban area vulnerability and, finally, planning procedures and possible mitigation measures

A procedure based on performance indicators in water distribution system for the identification of scenarios in terms of water losses reduction and structural improvement

Water loss reduction in water distribution networks WDNs can be obtained by means different methods and technologies. Anyway in many cases utilities have an insufficient interest to reduce water losses because the low production cost of drinkable water and because normally the environmental costs is not considered, also for the difficulties of evaluation. An increment in actual or further water requested can lead to infrastructures insufficiency of parts of the supply system. The reduction of the water losses should be valued in a joined perspective to WDN structural adjustments: the cost of the unit volume of water leakage becomes greater than the unit volume production cost and the water losses reduction can become more attractive. Because of the numerous possibilities in actions and effects, it can be necessary to identify a certain number of scenarios, successively subjected to technical and economical evaluation. The final procedure is based on a set of WDN Performance Indicators PIs for the generation of intervention scenarios in terms of water losses reduction and structural improvements. The objective is to give indication to combine in the most opportune way typology and intensity of each intervention