Resilience, Decision-making, and Environmental Water Releases

Abstract

Tensions between delivering water for human uses versus environmental benefits are increasing in many arid and semiarid regions, potentially causing irreversible environmental consequences. The issue of how to balance these competing uses of water is of fundamental importance, especially with projected increases in the variability of water resources due to climate change. In response, a stochastic resilience optimization model is developed to assist decision-makers to optimally determine water releases from storages for environmental purposes and to measure the resilience of a system for given risk tolerances. The model, with sensitivity analyses, provides a valuable tool for water planners ..