This article presents the steps made for the development of a new watermanagement system (WMS) for a private water utility in the south of Portugal, and its mainresults. The WMS is composed of a set of models representing the water resources, surfaceand groundwater, water quality models, economic models, and water allocationoptimization models. The system was developed at the request of the regional water utility(Águas do Algarve, S.A.), which is responsible for distributing water to the entire Algarveregion (most touristic area in Portugal, with about ten million tourists per year, and a localpopulation of about four hundred thousand). Results clearly show that independently of theamount of water available, inter-annual exploration is always the best solution, if possible.When water scarcity is high, as in consecutive dry years, the water utility will need to callmunicipalities to use their systems to complement supply. The level of supply deficit ishigher, in any case, for annual exploration management, and so are exploration costs. Theseresults clearly show that water resources management needs careful inter-annual planning,even for a private water supply utility with very limited control over water exploration byother competing users.
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