Multi-objective planning for optimal exploitation of surface and groundwater resources through development of an optimized cropping pattern and artificial recharge system

Abstract

A multi-objective modeling platform consisting of the simulator-optimizer model_1th and optimizer model_2th was developed in this study. HEC-HMS was used for flood routing and artificial recharge and the multi-objective genetic algorithm(NSGA-II) was applied for the integrated use of water resources. Net profit, cropping pattern, irrigation consumption, and gross irrigation demand for an aquifer were optimized using NSGA-II. The objective functions of 1th-model include minimizing the lack of supply and maximizing the volume of penetration in the artificial recharge system and the objective functions of 2th_model include maximizing net profit and minimizing agricultural water consumption. The total volume of optimal recharge increased by 70 MCM and the total volume of available water decreased by 29%. In addition, results have shown the cropland area, water consumption, and optimal water demand were reduced by 20, 50, and 20%, respectively. The results confirm the multi-objective modeling is very effective in achieving the research objectives.