Water Resources Management

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon successful completion of the course students will:

• Understand the importance of water resources in economic development on a local – regional – national scale and the limitation posed by the lack of water resources on the general prosperity of societies. They will understand the competitive uses of water resources, be able to identify the different projects for the exploitation of water resources and know their basic characteristics as well as understand their functioning as a system. Finally, they will understand the impact of climate change on water resources management.
• Be able to estimate the various economic figures over time so that they have a basis for comparing the development alternatives of water systems.
• Be able to conceptualize a hydrosystem as a network by applying the principles of subtraction, standardization and simplification.
• Formulate a water resources problem as an optimization problem and solve it, either by analysis and graphical solution, or by formulating it in Excel and solving it with Solver.
• Understand statistical-mathematical concepts such as: reliability, uncertainty, risk, simulation and model, sensitivity analysis and model uncertainty, synthetic time series, Monte Carlo sampling.
• Collaborate with their fellow students for undertaking a project.

 

General Competences

• Search for, analysis and synthesis of data and information
• Decision-making
• Working independently
• Team work
• Project planning and management
• Respect for the natural environment

 

SYLLABUS

Theoretical part of the lesson

1. Key concepts: Water uses, domestic and other – Hydrosystems and their components – Sustainable development – system analysis approach – decision support systems – goals and actions of management- legal framework in Greece. Case studies in Greece and abroad.
2. Economic figures: Benefit and cost of water systems – useful life of components of water systems – estimation of economic figures over time – cost-benefit analysis – non- economic benefits of water systems.
3. Conceptualization and modeling of hydrosystems: network representation – subtraction – standardization – simplification – input data to the model. Case study: the hydro system of Athens. Estimates of water supply and demand: water resources – characteristic quantities of surface water and groundwater – hydrological uncertainty and reliability – characteristic quantities of water uses (urban – agricultural – livestock – hydroelectric projects).
4. Alternative methods for model evaluation: model components – project selection and conceptualization. Methods: Optimization versus Simulation. Characteristics and limitations of each method – combination of the two (preliminary screening). Example with a reservoir and three users.
5. Optimization methods: Introduction – Linear and non-linear optimization models (analysis – Lagrange multipliers – Steepest descent method). Linear Programming and Dynamic Programming (simple reference to the latter). Example of linear programming using the Simplex algorithm.
6. Simulation methods: Uncertainty and risk in water resources exploitation projects. Stochastic simulation (Monte Carlo) and generation of synthetic time series. Sensitivity analysis of models. Uncertainty estimation using simulations.
7. Climate change and hydrological persistence. Reference to the effects of climate change on water systems in relation to the concept of hydrological persistence.

 

Lab part of the lesson
The laboratory part consists of 3 laboratories, which aim to help students understand and construct the practical exercises assigned in the lectures. These are the following:

1. Optimization problems solved with Microsoft Excel Solver: 3 examples
2. Lab exercise 1: Analysis and concepts of networks. Shortest path problem using Microsoft Excel Solver.
3. Lab Exercise 2: Water Resource Management Problem using Microsoft Excel Solver.

 

STUDENT PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

Theory
• Final exam, 50%
• Practical exercises, 20%
Laboratory
• Laboratory exercises, 30%

 

ATTACHED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Greek

1. Lecture notes on Water Resources Management – Part 1&2, D. Koutsoyiannis, Department of Water Resources, Hydraulic and Maritime Engineering – National Technical University of Athens, 2007, http://www.itia.ntua.gr/el/docinfo/762/ (In Greek)
2. Data analysis and decision-making techniques, Asimakopoulous D. & Arampatzis G, Publisher Papasotiriou, Athens, 2002 (In Greek)
3. Elements of Physical Hydrology, G. Hornberger et al., Translated in Greek by S.H. Karalis, Publisher DISIGMA, 2019.

English
1. Water Resources Systems. An introduction to Methods, Models and Applications. Daniel p. Loucks and Eelco van Beek. Studies and Reports in Hydrology. UNESCO Publishing, 2005.
2. Hydrosystems Engineering and Management. Lary Mays and Yeou Koung Tung. McGraw-Hill Publishing, 1992.
3. Principles of Water Resources Planning. Alvin Goodman, Prentice-Hall Inc., 1984.

Related academic journals:
1. Water Resources Research, AGU Publications, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2. Water Resources Management, Springer
3. American Water Works Association
4. Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research, Taylor and Francis