Developing a model based on games theory for optimal allocation of water to stakeholders in shared water resources under water bankruptcy conditions: Application of chicken game

The increase in consumption demand, competition between different stakeholders, decrease of water resources and being placed under water bankruptcy condition have caused many challenges for water resources management in recent years. The current study assesses the existing challenges between stakeholders who intend to extract from shared water resources. Chicken game has been applied to solve the problem, which is a practical method of games theory in order to eliminate the oppositions between two players. The main goal is to achieve a suitable behavioral pattern for two players by considering appropriate foresight. In this research, MODFLOW model has been used to simulate shared groundwater resource in the studied region. Then, the model is connected to a two-objective optimization model by minimize the drop in the aquifer’s water table and profit increase by using a neural network. The management period of this research was four years and its practicality has been evaluated one of the sub-basins of Golestan province located in northern Iran. In the study, different optimized cultivation areas in various modes of the game have been developed and then, based on the obtained results from the extracted groundwater, the exact amount of groundwater drawdown and obtained profit have been determined. The results show that different stakeholders in exploiting the common water source by using foresight can prevent their strategic losses in the future.