System of Systems Approach for Maintaining Wastewater System

Abstract

This study demonstrates that modeling a wastewater system as a system of systems (SoS) rather than a monolithic system constitutes a useful methodological approach to dealing with the complexity derived from multiple influential factors in urban wastewater management. In particular, different models were adapted and integrated, including urban dynamics, water consumption, technological and opinion diffusion, financial, and pipe prioritization models, in an agent-based system dynamic model. The result is a computational environment that enables simulating and comparing various funding and rehabilitation scenarios for the wastewater system under population and water demand uncertainty. The model was parameterized for the wastewater network of the city of Sahib in Jordan. The model indicates the influence of considering the interactions between different subsystems (i.e., physical, social, and financial) on the behavior of the wastewater system as a whole. Conclusions drawn in this manner would have been difficult to obtain using other approaches, such as conventional forecasting methods, given the need to integrate different socioeconomic, technique, and geographic aspects in a single model. The proposed model was verified and validated using scenario analysis and subject-matter experts. Additionally, the model results were statistically compared to those of other state-of-the-art studies for external validation. The results illustrate that the described methodology can complement conventional approaches and provides descriptive and formal additional insights into wastewater system management.