A Utility Criterion for Real-time Reservoir Operation

From the Proceedings of the 1977 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 15-16, 1977, Las Vegas, NevadaA dual purpose reservoir control problem can logically be modelled as a game against nature. The first purpose of the reservoir is flood control under uncertain inflow, which corresponds to short -range operation (SRO); the second purpose, which the present model imbeds into the first one, is water supply after the flood has receded, and corresponds to long-range operation (LRO). The reservoir manager makes release decisions based on his SRO risk. The trade-offs involved in his decision are described by a utility function, which is constructed within the framework of Keeney's multiattribute utility theory. The underlying assumptions appear to be quite natural for the reservoir control problem. To test the model, an experiment assessing the utility criterion of individuals has been performed; the results tend to confirm the plausibility of the approach. In particular, most individuals appear to have a risk-averse attitude for small floods and a risk-taking attitude for large ones.This article is part of the Hydrology and Water Resources in Arizona and the Southwest collections. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science and the University of Arizona Libraries. For more information about items in this collection, contact [email protected]

Collective Utility: A Systems Approach for the Utilization of Water Resources

From the Proceedings of the 1971 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 22-23, 1971, Tempe, ArizonaIn the semiarid southwestern U.S. where competition for water is fierce between competing users, no regional agency controls water allocation, and as a result, much court litigation ensues. This paper attempts to develop a model for optimal allocation of water resources and to apply the model to a specific case study. In November 1969, the largest farming interest in the Sahuarita-continental area near Tucson filed a court suit seeking first to reduce the amount of groundwater used by 4 nearby copper mines, and then to allocate the water more evenly among various interests in the area. The farming interest maintained that the mines' drawdown on the groundwater table would soon deplete the supply to the point where agriculture would become impossible. The model utilizes the concept of collective utility which postulates the existence of an economic decision maker (edp). To get around the problem of determination of net revenue functions, the theory compares the relative desirability of neighboring economic states. The edp has the power to impose groundwater-use taxes in such a way as to maximize overall growth of collective utility in the Sahuarita-continental area, taking into account the externalities of the resource consumption. The mathematical analysis is presented in detail.This article is part of the Hydrology and Water Resources in Arizona and the Southwest collections. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science and the University of Arizona Libraries. For more information about items in this collection, contact [email protected]

Comparison of Water Pricing Structures from a Collective Utility Viewpoint

From the Proceedings of the 1971 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 22-23, 1971, Tempe, ArizonaAs a result of continually lowering water tables in the arid regions of the west, many people are beginning to realize that water should be treated like any other rare resource, letting supply and demand factors regulate its distribution. Three types of price structures are used by water agencies: (1) the flat rate system (2) the step rate system and (3) the block rate system. Each of these structures may be progressive or regressive. At present, Tucson's only source of water lies underground and will presumably decrease as the population increases. To optimize the benefits to the community, it may be necessary to decrease not only average consumption but also summertime peak consumption for swimming pools, evaporative coolers and lawn sprinkling. Currently, Tucson uses a regressive block rate pricing structure. Using the theory of collective utility, a model is developed for use in comparing 2 price structures in an effort to define a monetary value for water conservation. It is concluded that the change in collective utility, du, which is a measure of the worth of change from economic state 1 to 2, is the best measure of price changes in arid areas. The model shows that Tucson water consumption would be lowered and money would be lost with either price structure, but with the permanent change, monetary flow of goods would be greater than under the seasonal structure.This article is part of the Hydrology and Water Resources in Arizona and the Southwest collections. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science and the University of Arizona Libraries. For more information about items in this collection, contact [email protected]

Collective Utility of Exchanging Treated Sewage Effluent for Irrigation and Mining Water

From the Proceedings of the 1972 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - May 5-6, 1972, Prescott, ArizonaThe concept of collective utility is applied to a case study of alternative water resource utilization by providing a basis for comparing alternative uses of resources from the viewpoint of aggregate welfare. The exchange of sewage effluent for groundwater used by irrigation farmers, and the exchange of sewage effluent for groundwater used by processing and milling miners in Tucson, Arizona, are given as examples. Reviewed are collective utility concepts, case problems, definitions of problems, formulation of the model, and marginal change of collective utility. The first case has a collective utility of $800,500-g, where g represents unquantifiable factors, such as the reduction in quality of living due to the odor if solid waste exchanges. The second case has a collective utility of$175,000. Since it is likely that g will be on the order of $1 million per year, the first exchange is preferable to the second.This article is part of the Hydrology and Water Resources in Arizona and the Southwest collections. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science and the University of Arizona Libraries. For more information about items in this collection, contact [email protected]

Ranking Alternative Plans for the Santa Cruz River Basin by Q-Analysis

From the Proceedings of the 1981 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona - Nevada Academy of Science - May 1-2, 1981, Tucson, ArizonaThis paper introduces an intuitive, multicriterion decision making aid utilizing Q-analysis, a technique based in algebraic topology and set theory. This aid ranks twenty-five alternative plans for the water resource management and flood control of the Santa Cruz River Basin. These twenty -five plans have been described in terms of thirteen weighted criteria. Q-analysis is used to investigate a series of binary matrices formed over a range of threshold levels (TLs), indicating different levels at which the plans satisfy the criteria. A computer package performs both Q-analysis and slicing over the TL range. A short discussion concerning additional information that can be drawn from the multicriterion Q-analysis has also been included.This article is part of the Hydrology and Water Resources in Arizona and the Southwest collections. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science and the University of Arizona Libraries. For more information about items in this collection, contact [email protected]

A Multi-Objective Approach to River Basin Planning

From the Proceedings of the 1980 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona - Nevada Academy of Science - April 11-12, 1980, Las Vegas, NevadaThis article is part of the Hydrology and Water Resources in Arizona and the Southwest collections. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science and the University of Arizona Libraries. For more information about items in this collection, contact [email protected]