Reconnaissance-level alternative optimal groundwater use strategies

Open Access

Abstract

This study develops regionally optimal ground-water extraction strategies. Alternative explicit planning objectives arc: (1) Maximize total pumping from the underlying aquifer while causing the evolution of a steady potentiometric: surface: and (2) maintain a prespecified target potentiometric surface. Implicit objectives involve controlling stream/aquifer interflow and water flow across a state boundary, and attempting to avoid poss disruption of current cropping patterns. Models, bounds, constraints, and data arc: formulated. Alternative optimal strategies and the rationale for preferring one strategy arc: presented for a region in Arkansas. The objective of maintaining the relatively unstressed target potentiometric: surl1ce yields politically and socially unacceptable water-use strategies. The most acceptable strategy maximizes sustainable ground-water extraction, maintains recent ground-water flow to Louisiana, maintains current potentiometric surface heads It the Louisiana-Arkansas border, maintains more than minimally acceptable surface water now to Louisiana, and approximately maintains current cropping distributions. Developed planning models utilize the embedding approach, over 300 pumping variables, and 700 total variables, indicating the. utility of the embed· ding method for regional sustained yield (steady-state) planning.