Optimum design of small reservoirs (tanks)

Abstract

Small reservoirs, called tanks, are a part of traditional water harvesting methods in the semiarid tropics of India and many other countries. Though considerable investment is being planned to construct more of them, no investigation has taken place to discover the most efficient design of these tanks. This paper proposes a nonlinear optimization model to design these tanks. It is, in a sense, ‘appropriate technology’ because a traditional approach is combined with newer techniques to improve irrigation systems without capital intensive or high technology construction methods.