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This paper presents a multiobjective genetic algorithm approach to the design of a water distribution network. The objectives considered are minimization of the network cost and maximization of a reliability measure. In this study, a new reliability measure, called network resilience, is introduced. This measure mimics a designer’s desire of providing excess head above the minimum allowable head at the nodes and of designing reliable loops with practicable pipe diameters. The proposed method produces a set of Pareto-optimal solutions in the search space of cost and network resilience. Genetic algorithms are observed to be poor in handling constraints. To handle constraints in a better way, a constraint handling technique that does not require a penalty coefficient and is applicable to water distribution systems is presented. The present model is applied to two example problems, which are widely reported. Comparison of the present method with other methods revealed that the network resilience based approach gave better results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]