Many-objective Management of Population and Drought Risks: A Case for De Novo Programming

There is a growing consensus that non-structural supply managementinstruments such as water markets have significant potential to reduce the risks andvulnerabilities in complex urban water systems. This paper asks a common question,“What are the tradeoffs for a city using water market supply instruments?”. This questionemerges quickly in policy and management, but we contend its answer is deceptivelydifficult to attain using traditional planning tools and management frameworks. This paperdemonstrates these issues using visualization and many-objective planning toolsdemonstrated in the context of a city in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) of Texas,USA determining how to use its regional water market to manage population and droughtrisks.