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Optimal irrigation allocation and reservoir operation are essential in combating water scarcity in arid and semi‐arid regions like Iran. Due to the huge number of decision variables in a reservoir–farm system, the inseparable nature of the crop yield function and the large variety of constraints, a genetic algorithm (GA) and harmony search (HS) are employed in the current paper to construct an integrated reservoir–farm system (IRFS). This integrated model can take into account crop sensitivity to water stress in order to maximize the net benefit of crops and to optimize crop areas and irrigation scheduling. This methodology is applied to the multi‐crop Aharchay irrigation system downstream of Sattarkhan Dam. The outputs include the
Analysis of climate change impacts as well as conscious decision-making and long-term planning in complex water resources systems require use of innovative approaches under conditions of deep climate uncertainty. This research aims to design and evaluate robust adaptable plans under deep climate uncertainties in the agricultural sector. For this purpose, a combination of the Adaptation Pathways (AP) approach in conjunction with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is used to evaluate the robustness of adaptation actions and to design robust adaptation pathways under future climate uncertainties in the Hablehroud River Basin, Iran. Deep climate uncertainties are specified as plausible climate scenario combinations according to the
Land use/land cover (LULC) changes strongly affect catchment hydrology and sediment yields. The current study aims at analyzing the hydrological consequences of dynamic LULC changes in the Anzali wetland catchment, Iran. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT 2012) model was used to assess impacts on evapotranspiration, water yield, and sediment yield. Two model runs were performed using static and dynamic LULC inputs to evaluate the effects of LULC change between 1990 and 2013. For the static model, the LULC map of 1990 was used, whereas for the dynamic model, a gradual change of the LULC distribution was interpolated from 1990, 2000, and 2013 LULC data. The major LULC changes were identified as an increase of agricultural area by 7% of
The discussers believe that the range of our MODFLOW calibrated transmissivity is out of natural range and may be inaccurate. Modelers are aware that prior to calibration, a realistic range of parameters with respect to the physical system being simulated should be determined. Furthermore, hydraulic properties of an aquifer are studied based on geology and aquifer tests (Wels et al. 2012). For instance, in transient calibration, pumping test data and/or appropriate duration of regularly monitored data sets that describe the natural seasonal variations should be used (Wels et al. 2012). In order to avoid parameter nonuniqueness (Brown 1996), the range of parameters should be restricted to a reasonable range that is consistent with field valu
Human activities (HA) and/or climate variability (CV) may be two major factors impacting natural flow regime (NFR). This study was conducted following two objectives. The first was to develop a scenario-based hydrological modeling (SBHM) to disentangle the natural and human-induced impacts on flow regime. The second objective was to quantify the interaction between temperature and precipitation for the assessment of CV. To do so, six scenarios were defined to evaluate either the impact of HA, CV or both. Four major results were achieved: (1) The interaction between temperature and precipitation was more prominent in basin upstream areas that reduced the streamflow by 9% in the entire simulation period; (2) When separating the effec
Adaptive planning in climate change condition is a significant challenge for effective management of water resources and agricultural systems. One of the major controversial issues in climate change adaptation studies is deeply uncertain nature of such changes. This study aimed at planning optimal agricultural adaptation measures under deep climate uncertainty in a semi-arid basin in Iran (Tashk–Bakhtegan Basin) using a simulation–optimization (S–O) approach. To fulfil this objective, a modified version of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) entitled SWAT-PARS was used to simulate the status of the basin regarding water resources and agricultural sector. By combining the SWAT model with a NSGA-II based robust optimization model, the
Ensemble Prediction Systems (EPSs) are increasingly applied for rainfall forecasts and flooding warning systems. In this paper, these forecasts and their skills are evaluated through relevant criteria, particularly by considering forecast performances for different lead times. Furthermore, to enhance their performance, we propose to preprocess the EPS forecasts’ output using bias correction methods. For this aim, forecasts for different ranges of precipitation as well as various climatic conditions are evaluated, which is particularly important for extreme events that can lead to flooding. The Karun River basin in Iran is used as case study, a large area including various climate conditions. The results showed that the performance of Euro
The increasing demands of the population and the need for development obliged the optimal use and adaptive management of the watershed resources. Accordingly, it is necessary to adopt comprehensive measures to reach sustainable development goals. This objective can be achieved by the application of interdisciplinary and professional approaches through establishing dynamic and optimal balance in supply and demand resources. However, such important optimization approaches have been rarely practiced at the watershed scale. The present study has been therefore formulated to apply a linear water-energy-food nexus optimization for the Shazand watershed, Markazi Province, Iran. This approach was applied for planning 14 crops planted in orchard, ir
Evaluation of water resources systems and implementation of appropriate management strategies requires accurate and well classified information describing supply, demand, and consumption. The WA+ water accounting framework is a relevant tool in this regard. Earlier applications of the WA+ framework draw heavily from remote sensing (RS) data; however, applying RS data limits the application of the framework to past and current situations. Such analyses are needed for future assessments due to new management and climate scenarios. Therefore, the objective of this research is to link WA+ with the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to enhance it and to evaluate water management strategies through an integrated framework. The resulting syst
Most semi-distributed and distributed hydrological models can potentially be applied for comprehensive catchment simulations, but these models may require modifications to capture dominant hydrological processes. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) ecohydrological model, an open source program, provides flexibility for modification to capture different components of hydrological processes in a given catchment. In this study, two new approaches were tested to simulate the hydrological processes of a karst system in the Zagros Mountains, Iran. The major modifications used in these two methods included adjusting the percolation rates in karst hydrologic response units (HRUs) using SWAT-Maharlu Lake (SWAT-ML), and modification of the crac
see more details with sufficient sunlight, temperature, and humidity. Better growth conditions in the greenhouses are mainly achieved by maintaining the optimum indoor temperature compared to the outdoor temperature of the greenhouse. The objective of this study is design, construction construction Subject Category: Disciplines, Occupations and Industriessee more details and evaluation of a fuzzy control system for a research greenhouse with capability of measuring, control and monitoring of greenhouse environmental conditions. Greenhouses control variables are air temperature air temperature Subject Category: Properties
Climate variations and human activities are among the most important factors affecting water resources and have played a major role in river flow changes over the past decades. Therefore, determining the contribution of each of these two factors to river flow changes can help to manage regional water resources in policy and development of consistent strategies. To determine the contribution of each of the human and climatic factors in river flow changes, there are different approaches that each of these approaches have their own assumptions and uncertainty resources in determining the contribution of each of the factors. Accordingly, in this study, using three conventional approaches used to distinguish between human and climatic effects in
The unsustainable development and imbalance between supply and demand of water and its intensification in climate change are the most important issues in water resource management in Iran. This reveals the need to consider climate change on renewable water sources and water use. Therefore the current status and climate change of the basin have been assessed by integrating a comprehensive basin simulation approach using the SWAT model and the water footprint assessment framework. This framework used for assessing the stability of the basin and its potential impacts on water resources, agriculture and the environment. Therefore, assessment of basin status and climate change was carried out by calculating green water, blue water, groundwater a
Agriculture is the main source of diffuse nutrient pollution in surface waters. It requires best management practices (BMPs) for controlling the discharges of pollutants like total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP). In addition, these pollutants are accounted in the grey water footprint (GWF) of agricultural productions. This study proposes an integrated methodology with two steps for assessing the impacts of BMPs on the water footprints (WF) of agricultural productions. First, this approach uses the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) for basin modeling and calculating the required data for WF assessment. In the second step, the WFs of agricultural productions are quantified and compared in different BMP scenarios, including ferti
Since there are various social factors and differences between different sectors of the system, ignoring water users’ attributes and their social behavior as well as considering only the homogeneous and up-down management scheme, would not be a successful approach in sustainable water management. Agent-Based Modeling is a relatively new approach that provides helpful tools to simulate social behaviors in sustainable water management. In this study, the agriculture sector’s water use is simulated using a conceptual framework and an Agent-Based Model to study the behavior of the decision-making agents. Therefore, to prepare the conceptual model and to simulate and analyze the social behavior of water users (in three decision levels of the
The water, food and energy nexus is an important approach in a comprehensive assessment of water resource management policies. The main objective of the current research is providing a method for decision makers to analysis and quantitative assessment of water–food–energy nexus at the irrigation network level. Through the proposed method, indicators considering the water and energy consumption, water productivity (WP), and energy productivity were suggested. Based on these indicators a water–food–energy nexus index (WFENI) was proposed. This research was conducted on irrigation networks located in the Zayandeh Rud Basin in Isfahan province. The Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) model has been used to simulate the allocation of re