QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE WATER ALLOCATION IN SEMIARID REGION RESERVOIRS
Concession discharge. Water availability. Optimization. Reservoir Operation.
In the last years, the Brazilian semiarid region has been experiencing one of the worst scenarios in terms of water availability. In addition to the reduction in quantitative terms, it has been verified that most of the reservoirs are eutrophized, which has further compromised the available flows to meet the demands. The result of this is the frequent conflict over water uses, requiring even more efficient on reservoir operations. In this sense, this research aims to propose a methodology of water allocation in reservoirs considering the quantitative and qualitative aspects. In this study, we intend to identify zones in the vertical profile of the reservoir, which will be delimited by the guide curves (or alert levels). Each zone will cover a volume range and Trophic State Index (IET), which will result in different strategies for the allocation of water by the management institutions. The zones or alert levels will be obtained using simulation and optimization techniques, and the relationship between the variables analyzed (IET = f (Vol)) will be obtained by linear regression. It is hoped to obtain a simple water allocation methodology that has the potential to become an important tool for water resource management, helping decision making in the process of granting reservoirs in semi-arid regions.