Integrated Water Resources Plan Using An Optimization Model

ABSTRACT

As part of the City of Atlanta's Department of Watershed Management (DWM) transition into a 5-year rolling Capital Improvement Program (CIP), the Atlanta Program Management Services Team (PMST) was tasked with developing the Atlanta Integrated Water Resources Plan (IWRP) to incorporate project recommendations from the City's three recently completed master plans for water, wastewater, and stormwater into an integrated CIP. This effort was especially difficult as the City's available budget for CIP projects was being significantly reduced from normal years because of the adverse revenue impacts associated with the coronavirus pandemic and the uncertain economic recovery forecasts for the 5-year rolling CIP time frame. This paper details the successful development of an optimization model designed to maximize triple bottom line (TBL) and risk reduction benefits from the universe of potential water, wastewater, and stormwater projects while meeting tight financial budget limitations. The optimization model was based on OptimizerTM software by Optimatics that uses a heuristic learning algorithm, which is an approach designed to solve multi-criteria problems in a faster and more efficient manner that favors speed of process over absolute accuracy or completeness. The model used in Atlanta was the 3-dimensional (3-D) version to accumulate as much triple bottom line per dollar (TBL/$) and risk reduction per dollar (RRB/$) as early as possible in the planning horizon while minimizing budget expenditures. Copyright © 2022 Water Environment Federation.