Regional Wastewater System Planning under Population Dynamics Uncertainty
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 140, Issue 3
Abstract
Regional wastewater systems are used for the collection and treatment of the wastewater generated in a region and aimed at guaranteeing surface water quality. The volumes of wastewater to process depend on future population and thus are affected by the uncertainty inherent to population dynamics. In this article, we present a robust approach to the planning of regional wastewater systems under population dynamics uncertainty. The approach searches for the optimal configuration of the sewer networks and for the best location, type, and size of the possible pump stations and treatment plants to include in the system. It assumes uncertainty to be described by a given number of discrete scenarios of known probabilities and relies on discrete nonlinear optimization models whose objective is to minimize the expected regret of solutions with respect to total costs. As demonstrated through a case study developed for the North Baixo Mondego area in central Portugal, the results obtained through the proposed approach provide clear insights into the wastewater system planning decisions to make and do not require excessive computational effort.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia for its financial support through grant SFRH/BD/31080/2006.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 140 • Issue 3 • March 2014
Pages: 322 - 331
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 1, 2012
Accepted: Nov 19, 2012
Published online: Nov 21, 2012
Discussion open until: Apr 21, 2013
Published in print: Mar 1, 2014
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