Document Type
Conference Paper
Publisher
US Committee on Irrigation and Drainage
Publication Date
2005
Abstract
Best utilizing water resources requires coordinating their availability and use in time and space. Required can be: spatially and temporally distributed data; simulators to predict system response to stimuli; procedures for defining management goals, constraints, and scenarios; optimizers to compute optimal management strategies; and appropriate strategy implementation techniques. Here, a strategy is a set of controllable groundwater extraction and injection rates and surface water diversions. Simulation/optimization (S/O) models couple simulators and optimizers to compute optimal strategies for posed management problems. S/O models are becoming more commonly used for policy, planning, system design, and management. For example, water planners and managers sometimes must decide how to control groundwater use to cause a favorable future and avoid serious problems. S/O models can help determine the policies, physical systems, and management strategies that can yield the best consequences. ‘Best’ is defined by the manager/modeler in terms of water availability, sustainability, crop production, economic, social, or environmental criteria, or combinations of those. Addressing multi-objective optimization problems and developing quantified tradeoff curves is simple with a powerful S/O model such as SOMOS. Examples demonstrate data needs and S/O model power for policy and plan development and system design and management.
Recommended Citation
Peralta, R. 2005. Optimizing integrated water resources management: data, tools, and examples. In Proc., 3rd Int. Conf. on Irrig. and Drainage-Water District Man. and Governance, US Committee on Irrig. and Drainage. San Diego, CA, 1 Apr 2005. p 591-601.
