Artificial Neural Networks in Water Supply Engineering

Book excerpt: Prepared by the Water Supply Engineering Technical Committee of the Infrastructure Council of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of ASCE. This report examines the application of artificial neural network (ANN) technology to water supply engineering problems. Although ANN has rarely been used in in this area, those who have done so report findings that were beyond the capability of traditional statistical and mathematical modeling tools. This report describes the availability of diverse applications, along with the basics of neural network modeling, and summarizes the experiences of groups of researchers around the world who successfully demonstrated significant benefits from using ANN technology in water supply engineering. Topics include: Forecasting salinity levels in River Murray, South Australia; Predicting gastroenteritis rates and waterborne outbreaks; Modeling pH levels in a eutrophic Middle Loire River, France; and ANNs as function approximation tools replacing rigorous mathematical simulation models for analyzing water distribution networks.