Optimal allocation of water resources in large river basins: I. Theory

The major purpose of this paper is to present the useful techniques in the optimal allocation of water resources (OAWR) and to demonstrate using water resources applications how these methods can be conveniently employed in practice for systematically studying both simple and complex water resources problems. Formal modelling techniques in multiobjective decision-making provide many benefits to professionals working in water resources and elsewhere. A new Large-system Hierarchical Dynamic Programming (LHDP) method to solve the model can be carried out to ascertain the consequences of meaningful parameter changes upon the optimal or compromise solution.As a case study, the techniques and methods are applied to the OAWR of the Yellow River Basin (YRB) of China. The next paper shares with the reader recent research results on the OAWRYRB.Notation L _i inflows from the trunk stream in the subregioni. - S _i run-off volume of the river sectioni. - Q _i net inflows of intervals in the subregioni. - W _i volumes of water drawn the trunk stream ofi into subdistricti. - H _i volumes of water returning to the trunk stream in the subdistricti. - B _i(W _i) the maximum net benefits (in hundred million yuan) from the annual-water consumption ofW _iin subregioni. - W _ik the annual-water consumption (in hundred million m³) of sectorK in subregioni, k = 1, 2, 3, 4. - B _ik(W _ik the maximum net benefits (in hundred million yuan) from the annual consumptionW _ikof sectork in subregioni. - BS _i(S _i) the maximum net benefits (in hundred million yuan) obtained from the optimal allocation of the run-off volumeS _iof river trunki among different sectors within the months of a year.