In recent years, uneven distribution of available water resources as well as increasing water demands and overexploiting the water resources have brought severe need for transferring water from basins having sufficient water to basins facing water shortages. Therefore, optimal allocation of shared water resources in water transfer projects, considering the utilities of different stakeholders, physical limitations of the system and socioeconomic criteria is an important task. In this paper, a new methodology based on crisp and fuzzy Shapley games is developed for optimal allocation of inter-basin water resources. In the proposed methodology, initial water allocations are obtained using an optimization model considering an equity criterion. In the second step, the stakeholders form crisp coalitions to increase the total net benefit of the system as well as their own benefits and a crisp Shapley Value game is used to reallocate the benefits produced in the crisp coalitions. Lastly, to provide maximum total net benefit, fuzzy coalitions are constituted and the participation rates of water users to fuzzy coalitions are optimized. Then, the total net benefit is reallocated to water users in a rational and equitable way using Fuzzy Shapley Value game. The effectiveness of this method is examined by applying it to a large scale case study of water transfer from the Karoon river basin in southern Iran to the Rafsanjan plain in central Iran.

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[1] In this study, an algorithm combining a water quality simulation model and a deterministic/stochastic conflict resolution technique is developed for determining optimal reservoir operating rules. As different decision makers and stakeholders are involved in reservoir operation, the Nash bargaining theory is used to resolve the existing conflict of interests. The utility functions of the proposed models are developed on the basis of the reliability of the water supply to downstream demands, water storage, and the quality of the withdrawn water. The expected value on the Nash product is considered as the objective function of the stochastic model, which can incorporate the inherent uncertainty of reservoir inflow. A water quality simulation model is also developed to simulate the thermal stratification cycle and the reservoir discharge quality through a selective withdrawal structure. The optimization models are solved using a new version of genetic algorithms called varying chromosome length genetic algorithm (VLGA). In this algorithm the chromosome length is sequentially increased to provide a good initial solution for the final traditional GA-based optimization model. The proposed stochastic optimization model can also reduce the computational burden of the previously proposed models such as stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) by reducing the number of state transitions in each stage. The proposed models which are called VLGAQ and SVLGAQ are applied to the 15-Khordad Reservoir in the central part of Iran. The results show that the proposed models can reduce the salinity of allocated water to different water demands as well as the salinity buildup in the reservoir.Citation: Kerachian, R., and M. Karamouz (2006), Optimal reservoir operation considering the water quality issues: A stochastic conflict resolution approach, Water Resour. Res., 42, W12401,