Research paper A simulation model for the operation of multipurpose multireservoir system for River Narmada, India Geeta S. Joshi a, * , Kapil Gupta b,1 a Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, The M. S. University of Baroda, Vadodara, India b Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400 076, India Received 7 October 2007; revised 18 January 2009; accepted 22 July 2009 Abstract This paper presents a simulation model for the operation of multipurpose multireservoir systems. The simulation model developed in this study has been applied to the Narmada River Reservoir System in India. The model has been formulated for the monthly operation of reservoirs to meet industrial, domestic, irrigation, and hydropower generation water requirements. The simulation model consists of four modules: inflow generation, minimum flow releases, simulation, and performance evaluation. The single-site ThomaseFiering and multisite Lane’s Applied Stochastic Techniques (LAST) inflow generation models have been used for the generation of a monthly inflow series. Five performance indicator indices have been formulated for evaluating the performance of the multipurpose multireservoir system: Volume Reliability Index (VRI ), Time Reliability Index (TRI ), Hydropower Production Index (HPI ), Economic Benefits Index (ECBI ), and Spill Prevention Index (SPPI ). The trade-offs between the performance indicator indices have been obtained using the simulation model. The results from these trade- offs will assist decision makers in the operation of reservoirs, as well as with planning and comparing operation strategies. Ó 2009 International Association for Hydraulic Engineering and Research, Asia Pacific Division. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Multipurpose multireservoir system; Simulation model; Performance indicator index; Trade-offs 1. Introduction The growth in population, urbanization, and industrializa- tion in India has increased the demand for water for industrial, domestic, irrigation, and hydropower generation uses. In most parts of India, 80% of the annual rainfall occurs in the monsoon months from June to September. The main challenge for water managers is to manage water demands during the remaining eight dry months. Hence, the construction of major reservoir projects has been undertaken to store and regulate the flow of water throughout the year in order to meet the increasing demand for water. In addition, there is significant variability in the temporal and spatial distribution of rainfall in India, resulting in a high variation of runoff in the rivers. This poses a major challenge for the operation of an efficient multireservoir water resource system in a river basin. The operation of a multipurpose multireservoir system involves interactions and trade-offs between various purposes, which are sometimes complementary but are often conflicting and competitive (Wurbs, 1996). Yeh (1985) presented a state- of-the-art review of mathematical models developed for the operation of reservoirs, including simulations. In a subsequent state-of-the-art review on the optimization of reservoir system management and operations, Labadie (2004) considered future directions for additional research and application. Mohan and Raipure (1992) developed a linear multiobjective program- ming model to derive releases of water from the reservoirs for irrigation and hydropower production for the optimal opera- tion of five reservoirs in the Chaliyar River Basin, Karnataka State, India. Jain et al. (1998) carried out a reservoir operation study for the Sabarmati River System, India, using the historical observed flows, and developed a judicious operation policy for conservation and flood control using simulation * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ91 9825873023. E-mail addresses: rs_geeta@yahoo.com (G.S. Joshi), kgupta@civil.iitb.ac.in (K. Gupta). 1 Tel.: þ91 22 2576 7324; fax: þ91 22 2572 3480. 1570-6443/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 International Association for Hydraulic Engineering and Research, Asia Pacific Division. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jher.2009.07.002 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Journal of Hydro-environment Research 3 (2009) 96e108 www.elsevier.com/locate/jher