Water level prediction of pumping station pre-station based on machine learning methods

Abstract Water level prediction is an essential factor for the safe operation of pumping stations. However, due to the complex nonlinear relationship between the water level of the front pool of the pumping station and the influencing factors, the prediction of the water level is still inaccurate and untimely. Backpropagation (BP) neural network, improved particle swarm optimization-BP neural network (PSO-BP), support vector machine regression (SVR), and improved PSO-SVR were used to construct 4-h and 8-h ahead prediction models for pumping station prestation water levels. Mean absolute error, mean squared error (MSE), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and R correlation coefficient were used as prediction evaluation metrics. This method is applied in the Baliwan Pumping Station, the highest pumping station in the South-to-North Water Diversion Eastern Route Project (SNWDERP). The results showed that the MSE, RMSE, and MAPE of the improved PSO-BP model were smaller than other models, whereas the R correlation coefficient was larger, confirming its high prediction accuracy. All models had higher prediction accuracy 4 h ahead than 8 h ahead. Combining the time-phased water level prediction method and hybrid machine learning can enhance the water level prediction accuracy of a pumping station pre-station.