Adjustable Robust Optimization for Multi-Period Water Allocation in Droughts Under Uncertainty

Optimal water resource allocation can go some way to overcoming water deficiencies; however, its achievement is complex due to conflicting hierarchies and uncertainties, such as water availability (WA) and water demand (WD). This study develops a robust water withdrawal scheme for drought regions that can balance the trade-offs between the sub-areas and water use participants, ensure sustainable regional system development, and guarantee robust solutions for future uncertainties. A bi-level affinely adjustable robust counterpart (AARC) programming framework was developed in which the regional authority as the leader allocates water to the sub-areas to maximize the intra- and intergenerational equity, and the sub-areas as the followers allocate water to their respective water departments to maximize their economic benefits and minimize water shortages. A case study from Neijiang, China, is given to illustrate the applicability and feasibility of this framework. The novelty of this study is to propose a sustainable bi-level AARC regional water allocation framework which integrates intra- and inter-generational equity of regional water use and priority rules reflected by goal preference programming between water departments under uncertainties of WA and WD simultaneously in water deficient regions.

Automated summary

This study develops a robust water withdrawal scheme for drought regions that can balance the trade-offs between sub-areas and water use participants, ensuring sustainable regional system development under uncertainties of water availability and demand.