Development of Reservoir Management Optimal Rules: Case of Hammam Boughrara Dam, Wilaya of Tlemcen, Algeria

Abstract

Water has a very important role in the socioeconomic development of the country, and if a shortage were to continue, it could affect the economy of the country and particularly agriculture, the major consumer of water. Water problems are likely to become tougher and more complex in the future and that in front of various changes: increase in the population and its needs, climate change, the scarcity of water resources…etc. For this purpose, the management of water, which has the role to find the right balance between resources and uses, is crucial. Hammam Boughrara dam is located on the confluence of Wadi Mouilah with Wadi Tafna, 10 km downstream from the city of Maghgnia (W. TLEMCEN, West of the Algeria). The water from this dam is done in November 1998 and is only in September 2000 that began its use. The dam is designed to supply drinking water to the towns of Oran and Maghnia (West of the Algeria) and irrigation of a part of farm perimeter of Tafna (about 6000 Ha). In front of the stochastic nature of the supply of water to the reservoir, approach to optimization by stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) is preferred in this case, and that, in order to find a better political management. This policy is translated in the form of decisions on the release of water to various consumers by maximizing their satisfactions taking into account probabilities of future contributions.