Premium
Field level planning of water resource systems
Author(s) -
Hufschmidt Maynard F.
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr001i002p00147
Subject(s) - computer science , maximization , operations research , mathematical optimization , linear programming , industrial engineering , scheduling (production processes) , resource (disambiguation) , context (archaeology) , function (biology) , management science , engineering , mathematics , computer network , paleontology , algorithm , evolutionary biology , biology
Comprehensive water resource planning formulates optimal programs, largely investment programs, in a systems context through use of principles of production and allocation economics and operations research. The planning problem entails maximization of an objective function, subject to constraints and to the production function. System design consists of derivation of three fundamental relationships—the cost‐input, benefit‐output, and output‐input functions—and their application to the system under study. The process of system design at field level consists of three major elements: preparation for planning; performance of basic physical, economic, and social studies; and formulating system designs, which in turn involves preliminary screening of development alternatives and detailed systems analysis of the alternatives that survive the screening. Major new techniques of analysis, typically computer oriented, include (1) optimal scheduling methods for the planning task, such as the Critical Path Method and its variants; (2) regional input‐output analysis to derive regional economic projections; (3) improved theoretical models and practical methods of data analysis for deriving benefit‐output functions, including those for flood prevention, outdoor recreation, and domestic and industrial water supply; (4) models for generating synthetic streamflow sequences and stochastic storage‐yield functions; (5) linear programming and rough simulation techniques for preliminary screening of development alternatives; and (6) detailed simulation analyses and response‐surface sampling for derivation and study of final system designs. Some of the new techniques can be used feasibly in current planning; others require further development and testing before they can be put to practical use.