The differential evolution (DE) algorithm has been received some attention recently in terms of water distribution system (WDS) optimization. The DE is potentially becoming an alternative optimization tool for WDS design due to its satisfactory search performance. This paper presents a systematic performance comparison between the DE algorithm and the frequently used genetic algorithms (GAs). Two DE variants and two GA variants are compared in this paper in terms of optimizing the design of WDSs. These include the traditional DE, the dither DE algorithm, the traditional GA and the creeping mutation GA. Two well-known benchmark water distribution case studies are used in this study, which are the New York Tunnels Problem and the Hanoi Problem. The results show that the DE variants significantly outperform the GA variants in terms of both the solution quality and efficiency.
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