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In a society concerned over the possibility of terrorism, secrecy, and security of infrastructure data is crucial. However, research on infrastructure security is difficult in this environment since experiments on real systems can not be publicized. "Virtual cities" are one potential answer to this problem, and a library of these virtual cities is now under development. "Micropolis" is a virtual city of 5000 residents fully described in both GIS and EPANet hydraulic model frameworks. To simulate realism of infrastructure, a developmental timeline spanning 130 years was included. This timeline is manifested in items such as pipe material, diameter, and topology. An example of using the virtual city for simulation of fire protection is presented. The data files describing Micropolis are available from the authors for others' use. A larger city, "Mesopolis," is currently under development and will incorporate additional critical infrastructure dependencies such as electrical power grids and communications. This will supplement the development of further models to account for risks and probability of electrical power failure due to hurricane events. It is hoped that Micropolis, Mesopolis, and additional virtual cities will serve as a "hub" for the development of further research models.

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Abstract:Urban water supply systems may be managed through supply-side and demand-side strategies, which focus on water source expansion and demand reductions, respectively. Supply-side strategies bear infrastructure and energy costs, while demand-side strategies bear costs of implementation and inconvenience to consumers. To evaluate the performance of demand-side strategies, the participation and water use adaptations of consumers should be simulated. In this study, a Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) framework is developed to simulate consumer agents that change their consumption to affect the withdrawal from the water supply system, which, in turn influences operational policies and long-term resource planning. Agent-based models are encoded to represent consumers and a policy maker agent and are coupled with water resources system simulation models. The CAS framework is coupled with an evolutionary computation-based multi-objective methodology to explore tradeoffs in cost, inconvenience to consumers, and environmental impacts for both supply-side and demand-side strategies. Decisions are identified to specify storage levels in a reservoir that trigger: (1) increases in the volume of water pumped through inter-basin transfers from an external reservoir; and (2) drought stages, which restrict the volume of water that is allowed for residential outdoor uses. The proposed methodology is demonstrated for Arlington, Texas, water supply system to identify non-dominated strategies for an historic drought decade. Results demonstrate that pumping costs associated with maximizing