Agent-Based Modeling Approach to Investigating the Impact of Water Demand Management
Authored by Yi Xiao, Liping Fang, Keith W Hipel
Date Published: 2018
DOI: 10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0000907
Sponsors:
National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Platforms:
GAMS
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Mathematical description
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
This paper proposes an agent-based modeling approach to assess water
users' behavior for water demand management (WDM) in a river basin. In
this procedure, each agent controls its own strategy regarding whether
to conserve or consume more water in order to achieve a better economic
return based on an initial allocation scheme. The effects of agents'
behaviors on their own economic returns and the aggregated impacts of
individual behavior on the system are investigated. A positive incentive
given to water conservers encourages agents to implement WDM strategies,
which in turn improve water use efficiency. A case study using this new
agent-based approach reveals that agricultural users are the main
contributors to water conservation. Compensation given to water
conservers more than covers the benefit loss from lower water
consumption, whereas other users gain benefits from the use of the
conserved water. The results also indicate that the implementation of
WDM strategies is beneficial for the overall system from both economic
and ecological perspectives. (C) 2018 American Society of Civil
Engineers.
Tags
Agent-based modeling
Optimization
systems
allocation
River-basin
Resource-management
Water demand management
Incentive
Soft-path