Mathematical model for multipurpose water resource management

Water resource management at the basin scale involves a variety of uses of the resource and a multiplicity of different situations concerning the schematization of the hydrographic network, hence this is a problem with a very complex solution. When severe droughts are concerned, the problem can be split depending on whether large reservoirs are present or lacking. In the first case, the problem mainly regards long term management of the stored water; in the second case, emergency interventions must be taken into consideration. Two mathematical models have been studied and implemented in order to face all these problems, taking into consideration all the most common water uses and implying flexibility in the schematization of the hydraulic network by means of a clear and user-friendly graphical interface. The first model bases its algorithms upon regionalization procedures of flow parameters deduced from the geomorphologic features of the basin (BFI, Area) and gives as output an evaluation of the water resource available. The second software tool simulates the allocation of the water resource for multipurpose uses. The algorithm is based on a topological sketch of the hydrographic network in terms of “Nodes” and “Links” combined with computation procedures for managing the water resource of big reservoirs. These integrated models have been validated with the case study of the Upper Tiber River, a large area with many agricultural and municipal water users, and several areas of considerable environmental interest, where two reservoirs (about 150-200 Mm3 each) are located.