CCWI2017: F9 'Agent-based Modeling as a Decision Support Tool for Water Conservation Planning'

The paper presents a simulation approach to model water conservation campaigns by coupling agent-based and hydraulic models. The approach is unique as it incorporates modeling the communication strategies that can be used to promote water reduction measures. An illustrative case study is developed where households, represented as agents, are targeted through a mail-in and social media campaign that prompts them to consider adopting rain barrels. The water demands before and after the rain barrel campaign are evaluated through the EPANET2.0 hydraulic network solver in order to calculate the change in energy use stemming from the measures. The study found that 1.51 ML of water a day could be saved through the campaign however it would take 18 years to reach the adoption target using the proposed communication strategy.