Keywords
drought, pro-active measures, complex water systems, operating rules, wargi
Start Date
1-7-2008 12:00 AM
Abstract
The definition of an effective link between drought indicators and drought mitigation measures in complex water systems is a tricky problem. In our view this gap between research and practice still limits the applicability of measures more than institutional or technological aspects. In this paper a methodology is presented with the aim of supporting water Authorities in the decision making process to face droughts in complex water systems. The methodology is a full integration of optimization and simulation tools. The exploratory power of the optimization allows to fast estimate drought risk indicators under future hydrological scenarios. The optimization model uses these indicators as triggers of measures in a pro-active approach. Then, a more robust and detailed simulation is used to test and evaluate these set of measures. Particularly in the case of too optimistic hydrological forecast, the pro-active approach does not completely eliminate the risk of drought and further measures in a reactive approach have to be implemented in the simulation. They include expensive and big impact measures to be taken later, during the drought event. Thanks to the collaboration with the regional water Authorities in South Italy, the proposed methodology has been currently under test in the Agri-Sinni water system. Early applications to the Agri-Sinni water system are presented in the paper showing the usefulness of the proposed methodology in mitigating the impacts of drought and selecting an economic efficient combination of pro-active and reactive measures.
Drought Mitigation using Operative Indicators in Complex Water Systems
The definition of an effective link between drought indicators and drought mitigation measures in complex water systems is a tricky problem. In our view this gap between research and practice still limits the applicability of measures more than institutional or technological aspects. In this paper a methodology is presented with the aim of supporting water Authorities in the decision making process to face droughts in complex water systems. The methodology is a full integration of optimization and simulation tools. The exploratory power of the optimization allows to fast estimate drought risk indicators under future hydrological scenarios. The optimization model uses these indicators as triggers of measures in a pro-active approach. Then, a more robust and detailed simulation is used to test and evaluate these set of measures. Particularly in the case of too optimistic hydrological forecast, the pro-active approach does not completely eliminate the risk of drought and further measures in a reactive approach have to be implemented in the simulation. They include expensive and big impact measures to be taken later, during the drought event. Thanks to the collaboration with the regional water Authorities in South Italy, the proposed methodology has been currently under test in the Agri-Sinni water system. Early applications to the Agri-Sinni water system are presented in the paper showing the usefulness of the proposed methodology in mitigating the impacts of drought and selecting an economic efficient combination of pro-active and reactive measures.
