Irrigation and Water Engineering

Irrigation and Water Engineering

Economic Allocation of Water Resources with the Theory of Leader-Follower Game in Zayandeh River

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 PhD student in agricultural economics, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran
2 Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Sistan and Baluchestan.
3 Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics, Zabol Research Institute, Zabol, Iran
10.22125/iwe.2024.480220.1832
Abstract
Optimal allocation of water is one of the most important issues in the field of water resources management. In this matter, there are many stakeholders with the goals of maximizing profit and minimizing inequality in water allocation. Considering the multiple and conflicting nature of the goals in such problems, a set of optimal beam fronts is presented as an answer, and choosing one of these answers can cause conflicts. In order to face the conflicts between the stakeholders, it is recommended to use the models and concepts of game theory and multi-objective optimization, in order to face the conflicts of the goals of the stakeholders present in the exploitation of water resources, the leader-follower game theory approach is used. In this study, multi-objective planning with leader-follower game has been localized and combined in Zayandeh Rood River. This is applied to a case study for the localization of water resource management among different water users including agricultural, industrial and domestic sectors in the Zayandeh Rood river basin. This model can achieve the trade-off between equity and economic benefit of the system and characterize the interaction among water allocation and objectives. Genetic algorithm of non-dominant sorting is used to solve the proposed model. Also, to deal with the challenges, to deal with the uncertainty of the future, the scenario-building technique is applied by changing the amount of available water.
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