A logic-based resilience metric for water resource recovery facilities

Abstract

This study develops quantifiable metrics to describe the resilience of Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRFs) under extreme stress events, including those posed by long-term challenges such as climate change and population growth. Resilience is the ability of the WRRFs to withstand adverse events while maintaining compliance or an operational level of service. Existing studies lack standardised resilience measurement methods. In this paper, we propose a resilience metric based on signal temporal logic (STL) to describe acceptable functionality of the WRRFs (e.g. meeting regulatory limits). By using Monte Carlo simulations and scenario optimisation on a model of a WRRF, we determine the maximum stress the WRRF can handle while meeting STL constraints for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) compliance limits. The results are applied to a simple digital model of a facility with 22 components. Importantly, this method can be applied to data that water companies routinely and regularly monitor, and could be incorporated into SCADA systems. In our case studies, we determine threshold stressor values of extreme rainfall that result in a loss of resilience. Our results offer insights into the design of more resilient treatment processes to reduce environmental impacts.