A Scientific Approach for Allocating Water to Competing Sectors

摘要

The present study develops an Integrated Water Allocation Model (IWAM), which optimally allocates limited water supply from a source to different user sectors taking into consideration socio-economic, environmental and technical aspects. IWAM comprises three modules - a Reservoir Operation Module (ROM), an Economic Analysis Module (EAM) and a Water Allocation Module (WAM). The model can optimize the water allocation for two different objectives individually or together. The two objectives considered are the maximization of the satisfaction and the maximization of the net economic benefit by the demand sectors. Single objectives are optimized using the linear programming technique whereas the Simultaneous Compromise Constraint (SICCON) Technique is applied for solving the multi-objective function. The model applicability is demonstrated with an illustrative example.