Three-person multi-objective conflict decision in reservoir flood control

Author name used in this publication: K. W. Chau2002-2003 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Conflict Resolution Support System: A Software for the Resolution of Conflicts in Water Resource Management

Water is an important factor in conflicts among stakeholders at the local, regional, and international level. Water conflicts have taken many forms, but they almost always arise from the fact that the freshwater resources of the world are not partitioned to match the political borders, nor are they evenly distributed in space and time. Sharing a limited water resource by several stakeholders can create conflicts among them when their requirements exceed availability. In such situations, water allocation based on a traditional optimization or simulation modeling may not resolve the dispute among them due to the lack of their participation in the solution process. Direct involvement of the stakeholders in the conflict resolution process provides for a better understanding of the conflict and offers a significant opportunity for its resolution. A systemic approach has been taken in this research to approach resolution of conflicts over water. By helping stakeholders to explore and resolve the underlying structural causes of conflict our approach offers a significant opportunity for its resolution. We define the five main functional activities for assisting the conflict resolution process as: (i) communication; (ii) problem formulation; (iii) data gathering and information generation; (iv) information sharing; and (v) evaluation of consequences. A computerized technical support is developed in the form of the Conflict Resolution Support System (CRSS) for implementation of a systemic approach to water conflicts. The CRSS includes computational modules necessary to resolve conflicts resulting from water shortages in irrigation, drinking water supply, and hydropower generation and flood control. Its principal components include an artificial intelligence-based communication system, a database management system, and a model base management system. The use of CRSS is demonstrated through its application to three types of water sharing conflicts. The CRSS is developed as a tool to assist a conflict resolution process and a tool for training stakeholders in the conflict resolution process.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/wrrr/1006/thumbnail.jp

CHANGE AND CONFLICT IN LAND AND WATER USE: RESOURCE VALUATION IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION AMONG COMPETING USERS

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

State-of-the-Art Report on Systems Analysis Methods for Resolution of Conflicts in Water Resources Management

Water is an important factor in conflicts among stakeholders at the local, regional, and even international level. Water conflicts have taken many forms, but they almost always arise from the fact that the freshwater resources of the world are not partitioned to match the political borders, nor are they evenly distributed in space and time. Two or more countries share the watersheds of 261 major rivers and nearly half of the land area of the wo rld is in international river basins. Water has been used as a military and political goal. Water has been a weapon of war. Water systems have been targets during the war. A role of systems approach has been investigated in this report as an approach for resolution of conflicts over water. A review of systems approach provides some basic knowledge of tools and techniques as they apply to water management and conflict resolution. Report provides a classification and description of water conflicts by addressing issues of scale, integrated water management and the role of stakeholders. Four large-scale examples are selected to illustrate the application of systems approach to water conflicts: (a) hydropower development in Canada; (b) multipurpose use of Danube river in Europe; (c) international water conflict between USA and Canada; and (d) Aral See in Asia. Water conflict resolution process involves various sources of uncertainty. One section of the report provides some examples of systems tools that can be used to address objective and subjective uncertainties with special emphasis on the utility of the fuzzy set theory. Systems analysis is known to be driven by the development of computer technology. Last section of the report provides one view of the future and systems tools that will be used for water resources management. Role of the virtual databases, computer and communication networks is investigated in the context of water conflicts and their resolution.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/wrrr/1005/thumbnail.jp

Rules and Values in Virtual Optimization of California Hydropower

Optimization models for California’s hydropower system are designed to be decision-support tools and aids for climate adaptation decision-making. In practice, they fall short of this goal. One potential explanation is that optimization models are not more successful because they are built on, and depend on, a misrepresentation of law and politics. The legal reality of California’s hydropower system is a web of networked jurisdictions of multiple federal and state agencies, with varying levels of coordination, long periods of legally obligated stability with rigid rules, and prone to conflict, but with multiple procedures for conflict resolution. Barriers to climate adaptation from that mix vary according to where a given dam is located. The virtual institutional arrangements represented in optimization models are not a simplification of existing arrangements. Instead, they are a dramatic replacement. That replacement is deliberate and reasoned. As seen in two optimization models supported by the state of California, CALVIN and INFORM, the operation of the optimization function of computer models depends on a virtual system of rules that are centrally controlled, coordinated, nimble, and without the possibility of conflict (let alone conflict resolution). But that smooth virtual system comes with a real cost. Institutional economics suggests that this mismatch between existing formal law and represented law may upend the results of models, since value is determined from institutional context

Conflict resolution in the multi-stakeholder stepped spillway design under uncertainty by machine learning techniques

publishedVersio

Intelligent manipulation and calibration of parameters for hydrological models

Author name used in this publication: K. W. Chau2006-2007 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Contribution to a flood situation management: a supervisory control scheme to reduce disaster impact

Inundations due to river overflows are becoming more frequent; management of flood is thus an important task belonging to the set of preventive measures allowing the protection of people and goods downstream. The flood situation management method proposed in this paper was designed to reduce the flood impact at its early arising stage. The river is supposed to be equipped with reservoirs in which water excess are stored and then released only when the flood episode ends. The supervisory control scheme allows calculating the water volumes through the use of a network flow. The management objectives such as the maximum discharge level allowed in the river, the order of priority for the reservoir storage or release; the measured levels and discharge in the river and in the reservoirs; and the assessed parameters such as time delays, are combined to configure the network flow. Then, the optimal flow in the network is computed and supplies the reservoirs’ gate opening setpoints. Finally, the method was applied to a simulated case for which the time delay during the flood varied and remained efficient for flood attenuation compared to the case when the gates were always open, thanks to the network configuration