Melbourne Water Saves 2 Billion Liters Per Year with Model Predictive Control

Melbourne Water needed to optimize water distribution operations to reduce water losses and improve regulatory compliance performance. Traditional rule-based control of the distribution system could not optimize the complex interactions between reservoirs, pumps, and demand patterns.

Rockwell Automation implemented Model Predictive Control (MPC) for Melbourne Water's distribution system, using advanced algorithms to optimize system operations across multiple time horizons. The MPC system dynamically adjusted pump scheduling and pressure management to minimize losses while maintaining supply reliability.

Melbourne Water achieved savings of 2 billion liters of water per year through MPC optimization. Regulatory compliance performance improved by 10% at the same time.

Model Predictive Control in water distribution saved 2 billion liters per year at Melbourne Water. The 10% compliance improvement came alongside the 2 billion liters of water savings, so efficiency and regulatory performance did not trade off against each other. Utilities that control reservoirs, pumps, and demand patterns with rule-based logic, as Melbourne Water did before, should evaluate MPC, which adjusts pump scheduling and pressure management across multiple time horizons.