A new systematic approach for water network design

This paper presents a systematic procedure involving two key steps for water minimization. In the first step, water targeting, the load problem table (LPT) has been used to establish the minimum water requirement for maximum water recovery and minimum wastewater generated. This table has been adapted from the load interval diagram (LID) recently proposed by El-Halwagi and Almutlaq (2004). In the next step, the design approach, designers can select the most practical network from a range of options, all of which can satisfy the raw water and wastewater targets. It is based on a special strategy of mixing the water sources in order to satisfy the given water demands, and on some guidelines about water distribution within a network. Several test problems are solved to illustrate the ease and applicability of the proposed methodology.