Controlling salinity in a potable water supply system using a constraint programming approach

Salinity is the relative concentration of salts in water. In a city of southern China, the local water supply company pumps water from a nearby river for potable use. During the winter dry season, the intrusion of sea water raises the salinity of the river to a high level and affects approximately the daily life of 450,000 residents of the city. In this paper, we report the application of constraint programming to optimize the logistical operations of the raw water system so as to satisfy the daily water consumption requirement of the city and to keep the potable salinity below a desirable level for as many days as possible. Our system has already been delivered to the water supply company for deployment