Software for optimal integrated water resources management

To best integrate management of available water one should coordinate the use of groundwater and surface water in time and space. This requires: data distributed in space and time; the ability to predict system response to stimuli; clearly formulated management goals, constraints, and optimization problem scenarios; the ability to compute optimal management strategies; and ways of implementing the strategies. A strategy is a set of controllable water flows, such as groundwater extraction and injection rates, surface water diversions, and reservoir releases. Simulation/optimization (S/O) models link simulators and optimizers to compute optimal strategies for user-specified management problems. S/O models are increasingly used for policy development, reconnaissance studies, planning, design, and management. S/O models can help determine the policies, plans, systems, and management that can yield the best consequences. `Best\u27 is defined by the manager/modeler via the formulated optimization problem to be solved. Best is usually defined in terms of water availability, sustainability, crop production, economic, social, or environmental criteria, or combinations. Developing optimal multi-objective solutions and tradeoff surfaces is simple with a powerful S/O model such as SOMOS. Examples demonstrate S/O model power for integrated water resources management. Capabilities of Simulation Optimization Modeling System (SOMOS) are discussed