Conversational Hydraulic Modelling: An Open-source Model Context Protocol Server for EPANET

Digital twins of water distribution systems provide control room operators with automated control capabilities and enable faster, more detailed system diagnostics. These tools typically rely on the open-source EPANET simulation engine for accurate hydraulic simulations. However, the technical expertise required to run or integrate the EPANET library and similar alternatives can be substantial, limiting their adoption and hindering operators from making evidence-based decisions. This work introduces the EPANET Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, an open-source solution that integrates EPANET with Large Language Models and other MCP-compatible applications. By implementing the MCP, a standard that provides a common interface for AI to interact with external tools, this software enables practitioners and researchers to run complete hydraulic simulations, retrieving system information and results through a conversational interface. This work focuses on establishing the architectural groundwork and demonstrating its potential through a few examples, but it already enables the use of EPANET across all major LLM-powered applications.