The aim of the problem studied in this paper is to minimize the electrical energy cost necessary to manage water distribution networks. We consider water distribution systems that are designed to deliver water from pump stations suitably distributed in a city, to the final water consumers. Since the cost of the electrical energy varies during the day, it is necessary to plan the operation of the pumps and water inventory in the system. An integer linear optimization model is proposed for the problem, when considering a fixed cost for the starting of the pumps. On the other hand, when we do not consider this cost, the binary variables are eliminated and the problem can be formulated as a linear optimization model. Some randomly generated instances are solved and corresponding solutions evaluated. The examples show that the proposed models offer consistent managerial support for their use in the real problem.
water distribution network; mixed integer optimization; linear optimization
