Multiple Leak Localization in Water Distribution Networks through Graph Neural Networks

Abstract

Leak localization in water distribution networks is challenging when multiple leaks occur simultaneously, particularly under sparse monitoring. Existing data-driven methods often assume a single or predefined number of leaks or require extensive enumeration of leak combinations. This study proposes a graph neural network (GNN) model that localizes a variable number of simultaneous leaks without specifying the leak count in advance or exhaustively generating every possible combination of leak locations for training. The model is evaluated on two benchmark networks of different sizes, the 31-node Hanoi network and the larger 92-node NET3 network, under variable demand, sparse pressure-sensor coverage, variable leak magnitudes, and varying numbers of simultaneous leaks. The GNN outperforms multilayer perceptron, support vector machine, K-nearest neighbors, and random forest classifiers by up to 12% and 20% in accuracy respectively in Hanoi and NET3 networks. Consistent performance across both networks supports the scalability of the proposed approach.