Reservoir management models

Abstract

The optimal policies for several discrete time control models of reservoir storage are characterized. Each characterization is exploited to simplify the numerical solution of heretofore formidable problems. Some of the results exploit analogies between multi‐item inventory theory and systems of multiple reservoirs. In particular, it is observed that the ‘linear decision rule’ label in the water resource literature ordinarily arises in contexts where either (1) a myopic policy is optimal, or (2) a multiple‐reservoir optimal release policy, as a function of the vector of reservoir contents, possesses a Jacobian matrix whose values are between zero and one. Either (1) or (2) impressively reduces the computational burden that would otherwise be carried.