An Agent-based Modeling Approach to Simulate the Influence of Consumer Behavior on Infrastructure Performance for Urban Water Reclamation Management

Abstract

Water reuse introduces new interconnections among urban water infrastructure services. For both decentralized and centralized systems, water recycling influences the burden on the stormwater, wastewater, and drinking water systems. Reductions in drinking water demands, caused by an uptake in water reuse, can cause changes in system pressures and new hydraulic conditions in the network. The proposed research will explore the interconnections among urban water infrastructure for water reuse strategies and develop a new agent-based modeling framework to simulate the interactions among consumer behaviors, water reuse technologies, and existing water supply infrastructure. An agent-based model of consumers will be coupled with water infrastructure systems models, and both the water distribution system and water reclamation system infrastructure will be simulated using EPANET. Each agent, representing a household, will be associated with a node in the drinking water system where its demand is exerted. As agents adopt reclaimed water, demand inputs to the drinking water model and reclamation system model are updated accordingly. The framework will be used to simulate the emergence of the adoption of water reclamation and infrastructure performance based on metrics, including extreme pressures, changes in flows, and utilization of existing capacity.