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Inter-basin hydropolitics for optimal water resources allocation

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Abstract

Efficient, just, and sustainable water resources’ allocation is difficult to achieve in multi-stakeholder basins. This study presents a multi-objective optimization model for water resources allocation and reports its application to the Sefidrud basin in Iran. Available water resources are predicted until 2041with the artificial neural network algorithm (ANN). This is followed by multi-objective optimization of water resource allocation. The first objective function of the optimization model is maximization of revenue, and the second objective function is the achievement of equity in water resources allocation in the basin. This study considers two scenarios in the optimization scheme. The first scenario concerns the water allocation with existing dams and dams under construction. The second scenario tackles water allocation adding dams currently in the study stage to those considered in Scenario 1. The Gini coefficient is about 0.1 under the first scenario, indicating the preponderance of economic justice in the basin. The Gini coefficient is about 0.4 under the second scenario, which signals an increase of injustice in water allocation when considering the future operation of dams currently under study.

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All of the required data have been presented in our article.

Abbreviations

Variable :

Description

F 1 :

First objective function

C :

Index for water use by each stakeholder

q pc :

Amount of water received by stakeholder p for water use c

AEB pc :

Average revenue of water use c and stakeholder p

Q c :

Amount of water allocated to water use c

Q p :

Amount of water allocated to province p

F 2 :

Second objective function

AEB p :

Average revenue from water use by stakeholder p

k :

Counter that is randomly selected among the stakeholders

AW :

Available water

TSW :

Surface water

AG :

Groundwater

ED :

Environmental demand

DD :

Domestic demand

WA pc :

Amount of allocated water to stakeholder p and water use c

De pc :

Water demand of stakeholder p and water use c

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Iran’s National Science Foundation (INSF) for the financial support of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Irrigation & Reclamation Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering & Technology, College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Tehran, 3158777871, Iran

    Mehdi Kazemi & Omid Bozorg-Haddad

  2. Department of Water and Energy, Moshanir Consultant Co., Tehran, Iran

    Elahe Fallah-Mehdipour

  3. Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93016-4060, USA

    Hugo A. Loáiciga

Authors
  1. Mehdi Kazemi
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  2. Omid Bozorg-Haddad
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  3. Elahe Fallah-Mehdipour
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  4. Hugo A. Loáiciga
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Correspondence to Omid Bozorg-Haddad.

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Kazemi, M., Bozorg-Haddad, O., Fallah-Mehdipour, E. et al. Inter-basin hydropolitics for optimal water resources allocation. Environ Monit Assess 192, 478 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08439-3

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