SCHOOL OF CIVIL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

WATER RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT CLUSTER

NAME

VALERIO, STEVEN C.
STUDENT NO. COURSE & YEAR SUBJECT & SECTION

2016141805 CE / 3 CE175P-5W / B2
MODULE ASSESSMENT SIGNATURE

MODULE 3 CW8

• Part 2 Inputs and Constraints

o Chapter 6 Reservoir and Outflow Control
 While the focus of this book is broader than the traditional view of the safety of
reservoir and river operations and utilisation, this chapter briefly summarises
established reservoir and river system operational practices.
 As introduced in Chapter 2, in analytical terms, the question ‘What do we mean by
system operation?’ can be addressed in terms of the following two problem
statements:
• Given the overall objectives of the system, a mechanism is needed to decide
how much water needs to be released through every piece of flow
control/discharge equipment at all times.
• Given the decisions in (1) have been determined, what needs to be done
(and how) in order to implement the decisions at all times?
 Statement 1 presents a problem of decision-making under uncertainty. The
uncertainty arises from: (i) uncertainty in natural processes that influence both the
supply (available water) and demand (production and other objectives) sides, and
(ii) uncertainty about the prospects of successful (partially successful, partially
unsuccessful or unsuccessful) implementation of the decision.
 Statement 2 presents the problem of conditioning the system such that the system
can successfully respond to the various and often conflicting demands within the
system.
 Conditioning the system in the absence of any internal conflicting demands
necessarily involves a certain degree of technologically based operational
uncertainty in the result.
 The introduction of internal conflicting demands and the need to make trade-offs
between them increases the overall uncertainty and may even increase the
technologically based operational uncertainty.
 Part (ii) of problem 1 is typically not addressed in general operational practice,
although it could be addressed in terms of a sophisticated DSS that goes beyond
traditional practice, which does not explicitly address the uncertainty implications.
 In this regard, problem 2 provides the basis for the inputs to part (ii) of problem 1.
How, and the extent to which, problems 1 and 2 are addressed in the operation of a
dam–reservoir system are organisational matters.

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 These matters of ‘how’ and ‘extent to which’ are complex matters that frequently
reflect a wide range of organisational positions and views over considerable periods
of time.
 Operating Concepts
• It is quite obvious that the operation of a single-purpose reservoir is much
simpler than the operation of a multi-purpose one.
• Let us consider first an example of a reservoir dedicated strictly to flood
control. The most effective use of such reservoir is to keep it essentially
empty at all times, with the exception of periods when the inflow volume,
if released in its entirety, would cause adverse impacts downstream.
• Thus, if the inflow exceeds a certain threshold level, the excess inflow can
be stored in the reservoir and only the amount equal to the threshold would
be released.
• However, even such a simple case gets more complicated in practice
because every reservoir has a finite storage, the inflows are uncertain and
following the simple rule explained above can lead to damages that would
be avoidable if the operating rule was constructed in such a way that the
purpose of the operation would have been to capture only the highest
inflows.

• Development of Operating Rules

o The term ‘operating rules’ can have a very broad meaning, ranging
from long-term policies spanning months or even years to real-time
decision-making rules governing releases from reservoirs at very
short timescales, which may vary from days to hours depending on
the characteristics of the reservoir and the upstream river system.
o The long-term policies usually address multi-year or annual
reservoir operation and can be derived from strategic operations

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 studies oriented toward providing general guidance for system
operations (USACE, 1997).
• Rule Curves
o The reservoir rule curve describes the ideal or target reservoir pool
elevation, and thus storage volume, as a function of season.

o Deviations from the rule curve provide a basis for making decisions
relative to releases. In addition to the rule curve(s), operating rules
also specify quantities of water to be released throughout the year
and in relation to pool elevation, quantities of power generated and
flood releases to be made. These rules reflect contracted and non-
contracted services provided to users, but also the required
environmental flows.
o A modification of a rule-curve approach replaces a single target line
with the bounds (upper and lower) for the targeted variable.

o Both of the above examples refer to so-called ‘fixed storage rules’,

as the target is either the storage or its equivalent elevation.
o Yet another approach that utilises the set of rule curves for flood
control (USACE, 1991) is based on defining release as a function of

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 the pool elevation and some other variable characterising inflow
either directly or indirectly.

o Such rules are often classified as ‘fixed release rules’.

o The development of rule curves is usually based on assumed
requirements under normal hydrological conditions for contracted
services such as power, navigation and water supply, or on
presumed levels of non-contracted services such as flood protection
and recreation.
o Criteria for decreasing services under abnormal hydrological
conditions are common.
o Rule curves under conservation conditions are usually based on
normal power generation and water supply requirements, but
alternative criteria for decreased services are needed for periods in
which reservoir levels are crucially low.
• Time Horizon
o The operation of a reservoir or a system of reservoirs typically
follows long-term policies established on the basis of the system
purpose, the nature and magnitude of demand for water, licenses,
regulatory conditions and restriction, and societal expectations.
o The strategies usually reflect priorities in the operation and address
time horizons spanning multiple years or decades.
o Another aspect of operational strategies relates to the natural
variability in the hydrological cycle and the seasonality of
o conditions that result in inflows and demands changing with the
season.
o Thus, each of the seasons may require a separate operational plan.
o Decisions based on specific current conditions, such as current water
levels and recorded and anticipated inflows, are carried out on a
daily basis.
o However, there are no exact rules supporting the operator in making
decisions about specific daily releases from the reservoir. Such
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 decisions are generated by the operator in a heuristic manner in
which the following factors are accounted for with different degrees
of formality:
 minimum and maximum downstream flow requirements and
restrictions
 general watershed conditions that include information on
snowpack, snow conditions, soil moisture, etc.
 qualitative and/or quantitative forecasts of inflows to the
reservoir, and inflows to other sites with a capability to store
water and regulate flows
 effects of routing outflows through the system
 demand for water downstream.
o In general, the type of information used for the purpose of short-
term operation and the manner in which this information is used for
decision-making differs from organisation to organisation and may
also vary within a single organisation.
 Role of Simulation and Optimisation in System Operation
• Both simulation and optimisation techniques can be used for the
development of strategies for long-term and seasonal operation
• and for short-term and real-time operation of a single reservoir or of the
entire river system.
• Both techniques can provide an important insight into operational issues for
single reservoirs and thus are capable of providing a very effective support
when developing both strategies and rules.
• An early understanding that rivers with multiple reservoirs on the
mainstream as well as on the tributaries require a systems approach to
resolving very complex operational issues promoted extensive use of both
techniques in the planning and development phases of water resources
systems (Buras 1972; Hall 1970; Hufschmidt 1966; Maass 1962).
• While at the beginning of this period the emphasis was on simulation
approach, developments in the area of applied operations research and
rapidly increasing computer power quickly shifted the attention to
optimisation methods and focused on optimisation of reservoir system and
river systems operations.
• However, as USACE pointed out at that time:
o A large gap exists between research studies and innovative
applications reported in the literature and the more traditional
proven practices followed by the agencies responsible for the actual
planning, construction, and operation of reservoir projects.
• Although the interest of the research community in the optimisation aspect
of river systems operations is still continuing and has already progressed to
the stage of development of complex DSS, the reality for many dam owners
is that the actual operations are still following either the rules providing
upper and lower boundaries of targets or more specific rule curves that
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 provide unique release decisions for any combination of factors taken into
account in constructing the curve.
• The simulation of the behaviour of the river system, or more precisely the
simulation of the response of the system to various forcings (natural and
induced by humans), that forms the scientific foundation of this book
requires that at each time interval a unique decision is made with respect to
the amount of water to be released from each reservoir.
• On the other hand, a rule curve that defines only the guiding boundaries is
insufficient for simulation purposes: firstly, because no unique decision can
be derived from such curve; and, secondly, because it is doubtful if not
impossible to construct the curves that can reasonably address the
operational issue of any given reservoir in separation from other reservoirs
in the system.
• Thus, in such situations the general approach proposed in this book requires
that a model of a simplified simulator of existing practice of operating the
system needs to be developed and incorporated in the overall simulation
model.
 Decision-support systems in Operation
• The development and applications of computerised DSS in water resources
began in the early 1970s following the increasing power and availability of
computers. Initially the applications were related mostly to general
problems of water resources planning and development.
• Beginning in the late 1980s the applications moved into the area of reservoir
management and operation, and later into the management and operation of
the entire river systems.
• The term ‘decision-support system’ itself is not uniquely defined and
understood, but presently applications in hydrology and water resources
follow the definition provided by Adelman (1992):
o ‘interactive computer programs that utilise analytical methods, such
as decision analysis, optimisation algorithms, program scheduling
routines, and so on, for developing models to help decision-makers
formulate alternatives, analyse their impacts, and interpret and select
appropriate options for implementation’.
• Present developments of DSS in support of operational decision-making
follow the broad principles of integrated water resources management
(IWRM) and integrated river basin management (IRBM).
• IWRM is ‘a process that promotes coordinated development and
management of water, land and related resources in order to maximise the
resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without
compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems’ (GWP, 2000).
• IRBM recognises that a watershed is a system of interconnected parts and
that effective watershed management has to address the governance of
watershed as a multiple dam owner, multiple user and multiple stakeholder
system.
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• A general approach to designing a DSS for planning and managing river
systems can follow a process proposed by Castelletti et al. (2002).
• The modified approach introduces three different levels of decision-making
in the dam-owning organisation, namely strategic planning, operational
control and implementation, as depicted in Figure 6.9.

• The DSS at the ‘planning level’ (DSS-P) focuses on strategic goals of the
operation and the ways to achieve them. The outcome of the considerations
at this level is a general strategy and operating policy that can be expressed
as a set of rules.
• The ‘operation level’ (DSS-O) takes the general direction from the
planning-level rules and determines reservoir releases for the entire system
in a way that maximises the utilisation of available water resources.
• To reach a release decision the DSS-O can use the same models as those
applied at the previous level, but with a higher degree of resolution.
• The simulations can be carried out with shorter time steps, and the
probabilistic characterisation of system components and inputs can be more
detailed. Similarly, the optimisation schemes selected at this level can
accommodate dynamic aspects of system behaviour.
• The ‘implementation level’ (DSS-I) may seem to be quite simple, because
in fully automated systems (where all sluiceway gates are remotely
operated) the only decision required from the system operator is to push the
button that activates the gate or turns the generators on or off.
• It should be pointed out that in the actual management of a river system the
release decisions are in fact recommendations for the system operator, and
it is up to the system operator to accept the suggested releases or prompt the
DSS for more possible scenarios and additional suggestions.
• This caveat is easy to understand if one bears in mind that the outcomes of
simulation– optimisation analyses are carried out on a simplified model of
the real world and that the simplifications are unavoidable in order to make

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the decision-making problem mathematically and computationally
tractable.