Fair Resource Allocation Using Multi-population Evolutionary Algorithm

Mokhtar

et al. 2016

Water

Self Cite

Abstract:Water resource allocation is the process of assessing and determining a mechanism on how water should be distributed among different regions, sectors and users. Over the recent decades, the optimal solution for water resource allocation has been explored both in centralised and decentralised mechanisms. Conventional approaches are under central planner suggesting a solution which maximises total welfare to the users. Moving towards the decentralised modelling, the techniques consider individuals as if they act selfishly in their own favour. While central planner provides an efficient solution, it may not be acceptable for some selfish agents. The contrary is true as well in decentralised solution, where the solution lacks efficiency leading to an inefficient usage of provided resources. This paper develops a parallel evolutionary search algorithm to introduce a mechanism in re-distributing the central planner revenue value among the competing agents based on their contribution to the central solution. The result maintains the efficiency and is used as an incentive for calculating a fair revenue for each agent. The framework is demonstrated and discussed to allocate water resources along the Nile river basin, where there exist eleven competing users represented as agents in various sectors with upstream-downstream relationships and different water demands and availability.

Section: Fair Resource Allocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Preliminaries and Definitions For Fair Resource Allocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Nile River Basin Water Sharing Mechanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Agent Based Modelling for Water Resource Allocation in the Transboundary Nile River

Ding

Mokhtar

et al. 2016

Water

Self Cite

“…The importance of the relationship between water, energy, and food is better understood through interrelated modelling [3]. Through this, strategies can be formulated that aim to best and fairly satisfy the demands of all affected parties, whether that be domestic users, industrial users or the ecosystem, amongst others [4][5][6][7]. With uncertain resource supplies and demand, it is important to assess the reliability and robustness of a system through modelling-this can be especially crucial to understand the risk faced by developing countries in managing their resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reliability and Robustness Analysis of the Masinga Dam under Uncertainty

Postle-Floyd

2017

Climate

Self Cite

Kenya's water abstraction must meet the projected growth in municipal and irrigation demand by the end of 2030 in order to achieve the country's industrial and economic development plan. The Masinga dam, on the Tana River, is the key to meeting this goal to satisfy the growing demands whilst also continuing to provide hydroelectric power generation. This study quantitatively assesses the reliability and robustness of the Masinga dam system under uncertain future supply and demand using probabilistic climate and population projections, and examines how long-term planning may improve the longevity of the dam. River flow and demand projections are used alongside each other as inputs to the dam system simulation model linked to an optimisation engine to maximise water availability. Water availability after demand satisfaction is assessed for future years, and the projected reliability of the system is calculated for selected years. The analysis shows that maximising power generation on a short-term year-by-year basis achieves 80%, 50% and 1% reliability by 2020, 2025 and 2030 onwards, respectively. Longer term optimal planning, however, has increased system reliability to up to 95% in 2020, 80% in 2025, and more than 40% in 2030 onwards. In addition, increasing the capacity of the reservoir by around 25% can significantly improve the robustness of the system for all future time periods. This study provides a platform for analysing the implication of different planning and management of Masinga dam and suggests that careful consideration should be given to account for growing municipal needs and irrigation schemes in both the immediate and the associated Tana River basin.

“…Energy, water and food are dependent in many complex ways and cannot be managed effectively without integration [23][24][25][26]. In North Africa, this is evident for Nile riparian, as there is a high degree of dependency on water for energy production and irrigation needs [25] while often the upstream-downstream relationship has also been neglected [18,25,27,28]. In this paper, we provide a framework for modelling and simulation of water, energy and food production through reservoir operating policies within transboundary Blue Nile river.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water for Energy and Food: A System Modelling Approach for Blue Nile River Basin

Tan

2017

Environments

Self Cite

Abstract:The world is facing a more water constrained future as a result of urbanisation, population growth, industrialisation and the emergence of climate change. This has direct impacts on the resilience and performance of the energy and food industries, as water plays a key role in electricity generation processes and agriculture production. Water, energy and food dependencies are more evident in transboundary river basins where several countries share the same source of water for irrigation demand and energy production. From the perspective of the upstream users, it would be ideal to store the water for hydropower generation and the agriculture sector while protecting the environment, whereas the downstream users need the supply of water for their agricultural growth and municipal requirements. We aim to develop a system thinking study by focusing on the transboundary Blue Nile River basin where the Ethiopian government investment in the Grand Renaissance dam has led to opposition by downstream users due to potential reduction of water resource availability downstream. We propose a system thinking approach for analysing different water management practices that considers all the available resources and the requirements set by all the users. To simulate this interaction, we use system dynamics to model the linkage between food production, water abstraction and energy generation. We link the simulation model to an optimisation engine to achieve effective management of the reservoir's operation. The study provides a platform to investigate how the reservoir operating policies can improve an understanding of the value of water in its alternative uses, and shows how different optimal reservoir release rules generate different optimal solutions inherently involved in upstream and downstream users' requirements. The proposed methodology is an attempt to enable Nile riparian countries to make more informed decisions on water resources policy and management.