The Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) recently completed development of a state-of-the- art Facility Automation and Information Management (FAIM) system, which integrates real- time Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) with control and information management systems, interconnecting the entire water system. The FAIM system, which recently won the Florida Institute of Consulting Engineers Grand Award for Engineering Excellence, allows a single operator to monitor and control water production for the entire system. The system wide automation and control provided by FAIM afforded OUC the opportunity to investigate and implement real time distribution pump and treatment scheduling by linking the FAIM SCADA to a hydraulic optimizing model running in near real time. OUC desired to investigate real time decision support tools to allow operators to select the most economical combination of equipment, amongst OUC's water treatment and distribution facilities, to meet system pressure and flow demand requirements at any given point in time. It was desired that the decision support tool should account for the cost to operate equipment and the cost of power, which, at some facilities may vary now, or in the future, depending upon peak demand or penalty charges. OUC's FAIM consultant, CH2M HILL, assisted OUC in evaluating approaches for providing ongoing energy optimization of OUC's water system operations with considerations for maintaining reliability and quality of service, forecasting treatment and pumping costs, and providing tools to assist operators in selecting cost effective treatment and high service pumping strategies. Based upon the results of the study, detailed criteria for an energy optimization system were established. After reviewing various options including Artificial Neural Networks, Rule Based Optimization, Genetic Algorithm Optimization and Adaptive Demand Predictive Systems, OUC determined that enhancing their existing water distribution hydraulic model with a pump scheduling module that could be dynamically linked to the SCADA system provided an economical and effective means to assisting operators in determining the most effective operating scenarios under a variety of conditions (wet weather, dry weather, unusual demand, line breaks, etc.) This paper describes OUC's experience in evaluating and implementing real time modeling for water distribution system optimization including planning and evaluation, pilot testing and implementation. Includes tables, figures.