Goal programming decision support system for multiobjective operation of reservoir systems

Many authors have documented the: minimal use of optimization in practical day-to-day multipurpose reservoir operations. The RiverWare decision suppor t system is a flexible general river basin modeling tool that allows water resources engineers to both simulate and optimize the management of multipu rpose reservoir systems for daily operations. This paper describes RiverWar e's optimization capabilities and its use by Tennessee Valley Authority ope rations schedulers. input data requirements include (I) physical and econom ic characteristics of the system; (2) prioritized policy goals; and (3) par ameters for automatic linearization. RiverWare automatically generates and efficiently solves a multiobjective, preemptive linear goal programming for mulation of a reservoir system. An advanced feature of RiverWare is that bo th the physical model of the river basin and the operating policy are defin ed and easily modified by the modeler through an interactive graphical user interface. Any modifications are automatically incorporated into the linea r preemptive goal program. RiverWare's combination of detailed system repre sentation, policy expression flexibility, and computational speed make it s uitable for use in routine daily scheduling of large complex multiobjective reservoir systems.