Towards an Agent-Based design for the management of Urban Wastewater Systems

Urban Wastewater Systems (UWS) have an important role in nowadays growing and urbanized areas. The management of the water and wastewater cycle in these areas is complex since wastewater sources are both heterogeneous and rapidly changing. Moreover, it implies to deal with different spatial and temporal references and to adapt to the changing conditions that might appear in both natural and urban environments. New paradigms are required to be undertaken when designing and modelling this complex dynamic system, since the need to communicate the embedded elements is essential for an efficient and effective management and a better understanding of the UWS. Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) are systems composed of several software agents that collectively are capable of reaching goals that are difficult to achieve by individuals. The concept of MAS shapes an important step towards the possibility to design the system to reach decisions in a more collaboratively and integrated way. The paper proposes a primary but consistent design of UWS using an agent-oriented methodology (GAIA). The agents in the UWS are designed in terms of the roles they can perform, so the activities and protocols they act upon, which finally depict a detailed description of the relations in between them. A general hierarchy between the agents is also given (e.g. the acquaintance model). Therefore, the agent-oriented design enables to depict both micro and macro level design of the UWS management.