A reservoir operating model for directing water supply to humans, wetlands, and cones of depression

Long-term water supplies are needed to address wetland degradation and the expansion of cones of depression, but this use of water is seldom considered in conventional reservoir operating models. In this paper, a new reservoir operating model is proposed to effectively direct water supply to wetlands, cones of depression, and humans. For ecological water provision to wetlands, the reservoir space is divided into two zones to maintain either the basic ecological water level in the wetland or the preferred ecological water level. The division provides reservoir operators with improved flexibility for balancing water supplies between wetlands and other users. The timing and rate of water release to alleviate cones of depression is triggered by the reservoir's water level. The division of reservoir space for water supply to wetlands and the specified reservoir water level and release rates to cones of depression are optimized based on the overall water availability and the planned water supply to each user. The proposed model is applied to China's Xidayang Reservoir to demonstrate its effectiveness for addressing the problems of water supplies for multiple ecological and socio-economic uses. The results demonstrate that this model effectively provides water supply to wetlands and cones of depression, while satisfying socio-economic water requirements. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.