Comparative Evaluation of Multipurpose Reservoir Operating Rules Using Multicriterion Decision Analysis Techniques

Selection of the best operating rule among a set of alternatives for a multipurpose reservoir system operation requires to evaluate many minor criteria in addition to the major objectives assessed to the system. These problems are sufficiently complex and difficult that they are beyond heuristic decision rules and experiences in case several noncommensurable multiple criteria are included in the evaluation. With the assistance of multicriterion decision analysis techniques, it is possible to select the best one among various alternatives by systematically comparing and ranking the alternatives with respect to the criteria of choice. Evaluation criteria for multipurpose reservoir system operating rules were identified and defined, and the multicriterion decision analysis techniques were applied to evaluate the four existing operating rules of the Chungju multipurpose project according to the identified nine multiple criteria. The application results show that the methodology is very efficient to select the best operation alternative among a finite number of operating rules with many evaluation criteria for a large-scale reservoir system operation.