Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management

The Lotus 1‐2‐3 spreadsheet package has been used to develop a stormwater drainage design method which is based on the Florida Department of Transportation's (FDOT) hand tabulation form (FDOT 1987). By using the FDOT procedure, the spreadsheet method allows engineers already familiar with the manual calculation procedure to more easily adapt to the new microcomputer environment. The spreadsheet performs the necessary calculations quickly and easily while not hindering the user with tedious input procedures and confusing algorithms typical of many computer codes. The spreadsheet method also employs a heuristic cost estimation approach which allows the user to find a least cost design. This method has been used to solve a problem previously solved with two dynamic programming algorithms. Since the spreadsheet method does not use a sophisticated optimization algorithm, many simplifying assumptions made in the dynamic programming algorithms are not necessary. The results show that the spreadsheet method was able to significantly improve on the dynamic programming designs while more consistently meeting the design criteria.

A method is developed for evaluating a hydro‐system schedule for a large power system that has both hydro and thermal resources. The method computes thermal costs that accrue while meeting hourly generation requirements by hydro plants, a thermal system, and a pumped‐storage plant. The uncertainties associated with thermal‐unit operations are dealt with by considering the thermal system as a sum of independent random variables and then computing their expected generation levels. One pumped‐storage plant is modeled in detail, with complete chronological accounting of reservoir levels and corresponding pump/generation capabilities. The conventional hydro‐system minimizes the variation in the hydro‐reduced loads. Constraints on the permissible hour‐to‐hour variation in a thermal unit's generation are also satisfied. The method allocates all power resources so as to approximate their most economical operation while meeting a weekly sequence of hourly power demands. It is designed to rapidly evaluate hydro schedules in models that use a power objective function. An example of the method is given for a week's projected hourly demands.

Beginning in 1975, the Bicol River Basin Development Program (BRBDP) embarked on a plan to develop the Rinconada area by providing integrated projects for rural development. Environmental studies were done, but largely in response to procedural requirements of the U.S. Agency for International Development; the Philippine environmental impact statement requirements were not taken seriously. The resulting environmental assessment was inadequate and failed to predict negative impacts that followed project implementation, particularly construction of the Lake Buhi regulation project. The controversy caused by the adverse effects necessitated follow‐on environmental studies and engineering works and enhanced the BRBDP's appreciation of environmental impact assessment as a practical planning tool.

A newly developed bivariate statistical analysis is compared to several rainfall analyses, namely the radar univariate analysis, the reciprocal‐distance raingage interpolation model, the Brandes field adjustment procedure, and the “optimum” raingage analysis. A number of statistics are also computed and used to evaluate the results. Several warm‐season storms are examined over the Grand River basin above Cambridge in southern Canada. Based on the selected criteria, the analyzed storms indicate that, in general, most of the techniques in the comparison performed similarly, with the exception of the radar univariate analysis, which is considered unsatisfactory.

A mixed integer programming model is used to generate the optimal design of dual water supply systems. The water‐supply network is of branched, or nonlooped, type, and the model selects discrete pipe sizes as well as optimal capacity and location of pumping stations. A distinct feature in the formulation of the model is that it takes into account the spatial and temporal variability of the water demand through a nonlinear relationship between the design flow and the area to irrigate. The model is applied to a hypothetical example and its superiority to a nonlinear model is demonstrated. A real‐world application is demonstrated and the model is then used in a regression analysis to determine if simpler cost relationships can adequately simulate the cost of dual water systems. Applications of the regression equations to three realworld problems confirm the reliability of the method, with errors between observed and generated costs not exceeding eight percent. Limitations of the regression model are also discussed.

In this paper the potential contribution of privately owned cistern systems to both water conservation and flood control in arid and semi‐arid regions is examined. Although it is demonstrated that, given the current cost of water in the American Southwest, cisterns are not yet a viable water conservation alternative; it is demonstrated that in situations in which water conservation and flood control benefits can be combined, cisterns are a cost effective alternative that should be considered.

A methodology for extracting random components and estimating the relationship between coherent components of hydrologic time series has been presented. The technique has been verified using synthetic data and validated using measured data. The results show that random component statistics are accurately estimated, and the correct relation between pairs of stationary and nonstationary time series are estimated for frequency components whose amplitude significantly exceeds the standard deviation of the random component. Applying the method to measured, nonstationary hydrologic data demonstrated that the technique was able to accurately predict the measured fluctuations in 9 of the 12 years considered. Significant portions of the spectrum of the measured series were found to have characteristics consistent with the existence of a random component. A primary application of the results of this study is to fill in missing data at one location based on measured data at an adjacent location.