Using optimisation for integrated water network management

The water industry has undergone radical change in the late 1980s and changes continue apace. We have been, and will continue to be, under increasing pressure to reduce costs and increase service within a framework where regulations are becoming tighter and demanding more information to achieve and substantiate performance. The major challenge will lie with the leaders of the industry. They have to achieve the right attitude, management technique and technical excellence to meet the requirements of change and to create adaptable organizations that can manage the challenges of change in a positive and proactive way. Cultural change has started but has a long way to go. We must overcome the traditional attitude of many water suppliers, which has typically been one of the ‘professional stewardship’ of a resource in which they supply water in the way they believe to be best. This must change and is changing to a more commercially minded management which is ‘customer centred’ rather than ‘product centred’. We must realize that our organizations manage a complex asset base which has to work towards strictly defined objectives of service quality, operational efficiency and regulatory requirements, all of which, as time goes on, are influenced more and more by substantial external forces.