Distribution‐System Operation Analysis Model

The Metropolitan Utilities Dist.'s (Mud) water system serves some 105 000 customers in the Omaha, Neb., metropolitan area. Its treatment and distribution facilities include two plants with 60-mgd and 140-mgd capacities, ten booster pumping stations with capacities up to 60 mgd, five storage reservoirs with a total storage capacity of 80 mil gal, and 1 400 mi of water main with sizes up to 60 in. in diameter. The operation of a system of this size cannot be analyzed effectively without the use of some operational-analysis tools. In 1970 the district recognized the need for new and more efficient methods of operating and expanding its system. It entered into contract with an Omaha, Neb., consulting engineering firm* for a comprehensive master plan. A part of this plan was a mathematical model of the district's treatment, pumping, and storage facilities. The mathematical model, or systems operational analysis model (SOAM), would take as fixed inputs the constraints of treatment and pumping capabilities operating costs for the various facilities, and other physical and contractual limitations of the system. The variable inputs would be the system water demands for