An Optimal Allocation Model for Large Complex Water Resources System Considering Water supply and Ecological Needs

• Main Authors: Yaogeng Tan, Zengchuan Dong, Chuansheng Xiong, Zhiyu Zhong, Lina Hou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-04-01
• Series: Water
• Subjects: optimal water allocation model; large complex system; system analysis technique; decomposition-coordination method; discrete differential dynamic programming; sustainable water use
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/11/4/843

Water resources are very important to support the socio-economic development and maintain environmental health, which is a typical issue in water resources management. In this study, we developed an optimal allocation model for a large complex system of water resources by considering both water supply and river ecological benefits. The water supply benefit is defined as the minimum water deficit for different water users, while the ecological benefit involves making the reservoir release as close as possible to the natural streamflow. To solve this problem, the combination of decomposition-coordination (DC) and discrete differential dynamic programming (DDDP) methods were proposed. The proposed methods first decomposed a large system with multi-objective programming into subsystems, and the optimal solution of each subsystem was accomplished by the DDDP method to solve the system efficiently. Then the subsystems’ solutions were coordinated to figure out the near global optimal solution. The proposed models were tested in the Lingui and Yongfu County, Guilin City in China. Results show that the optimal reservoir release is close to the natural flow regime and there is a slight water deficit ratio in both level years. The water supply objective is more sensitive to the system model compared with the ecological objective, and the result of water allocation is optimized when the reservoir release is as close as possible to the natural flow based on the minimum water deficit. The proposed system model could facilitate sustainable water use and provide technical support for water resources management in economic development.