Planning and management of a complex water resource system: case of Samanalawewa and Udawalawe reservoirs in the Walawe river, Sri Lanka

Abstract The Samanalawewa and Udawalawe reservoirs were built to harness the hydro-energy and irrigation potentials of the Walawe river in Sri Lanka. The recently completed Samanalawewa reservoir primarily generates hydropower while the Udawalawe reservoir, which was built in the 1960s, supplies water mainly for irrigation. With the addition of the Samanalawewa reservoir, located upstream of the Udawalawe reservoir, the Government of Sri Lanka is planning to increase the irrigated area of the Udawalawe reservoir. The Samanalawewa reservoir is expected to act as an additional storage for irrigation water supply. A study was carried out to investigate the operational behavior of these two reservoirs. The model used in the study is based on stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) and simulation techniques. Since, the direct application of SDP for two reservoirs is limited by the dimensionality of the problem, a sequential decomposition method is employed in the model. The algorithm employed breaks down the system into single-reservoir subsystems and subsequently, each subsystem’s operation is individually optimized using a SDP based optimization model and then simulated using a reservoir operation simulation model. The results indicate the usefulness of optimization techniques in planning reservoirs and deriving operational policies for them. The inclusion of the Samanalawewa reservoir reduces the irrigation water supply deficits at the Udawalawe reservoir.