Developing a semi-distributed decision support system for great Karun water resources system

In this study, water resources system of Great Karun watershed is modelled as a semi-distributed system considering the diversity of demand sites downstream of Olya Gotvand and Dez reservoirs in southwest of Iran. The main aim of the present study is to develop a basin's decision-support system to assist decision-makers in examining the impacts of different operating policies prior to their implementation. According to the basic characteristics of the system, a decision-support system is developed applying water evaluation and planning system (WEAP) model. Calibration of the developed model is important based on the Demand sites diversity and the spatial scale of the modelled basin. To calibrate the simulation model, a Harmony Search (HS) Optimization Algorithm is applied in an innovative framework. The comparison of the achieved results with the observed data indicates the accuracy of the calibrated model. It is also clear that, regardless of the quality parameters of the flow, all urban, industrial, agricultural and aquaculture demands at the basin level have been satisfactorily fulfilled in the study period. Of course, it should be noted that by taking into account the qualitative criteria, the obtained results will obviously change.