Designing Water Networks with a Focus on the Sustainability of the Adjacent Watersheds

To meet process and environmental constraints, this chapter introduces a new mathematical programming model for the best possible synthesis of recycle and reuse water networks that simultaneously considers the integration of the nearby watershed and the water network system. Using a disjunctive formulation, the model considers the best placement for the new industrial facility to integrate its effluent outflow to the environment with the nearby watershed. The pollutants released by the new plant are monitored concurrently with the other discharges to the watershed (such as sanitary, industrial, residential, and extractions), as well as the natural phenomena (such as evaporation, filtration, etc.) that impact the watershed’s composition and the chemical reactions occurring in the rivers. The objective function is to reduce the overall annual cost, which is made up of the costs associated with installing the new plant (including land, product, and raw material transportation), treating wastewater (including piping costs), and acquiring new sources. The applicability of the presented methodology was demonstrated with the use of two example problems.