This study focuses on the design of water resources
systems in developing nations with particular reference to
the development of water resources in the Lower Mekong
Basin (Khmer Republic, Laos, Thailand, and Republic of
South Viet -Nam). The determination of the "best" system
in terms of social goals reflecting the economic and social
environment of the Mekong countries is the main issue of
this dissertation.
The imperfection of the usual technique for planning
water resources systems, namely, cost -benefit analysis,
leads to the use of the standardized cost -effectiveness
methodology. To illustrate how the design is accomplished,
two distinctly different structural alternatives of possible
development in the Lower Mekong Basin are defined. The
design process starts from the statements of goals or
objectives of water resources development, which are then
mapped onto specifications sets in which social needs are
represented. Next, the capabilities of alternative systems
are determined through simulation in which three 50 -year
sequences of synthetic streamflow are generated by a first
order autoregressive scheme.
The two alternatives are then compared using both
quantitative and qualitative criteria. To illustrate how a decision in selecting an alternative system could be
reached, ranking of criteria by order of preference is
demonstrated. With the choice of either a fixed -cost or
fixed- effectiveness approach, the decision to select the
best alternative system could be made. At this point, the
use of a weighting technique, which is a common fallacy of
systems analysis, will be automatically eliminated.
The study emphasizes that a systematic design
procedure of water resources systems is provided by the
standardized cost- effectiveness approach, which possesses
several advantages. The approach will suggest and help
identify the system closest to meeting the desired economic
and social goals of the developing countries in the Lower
Mekong Basin. In this connection, the approach will help
governments in the preparation of programming and budgeting
of capital for further investigations and investments. It
is believed that the approach will eliminate unnecessary
expenses in projects that are planned on an individual basis
or by methods used at present. Further, the approach provides
an appropriate mechanism for generating essential
information in the decision process. Both quantifiable and
non -quantifiable criteria are fully considered. The choice
of a fixed -cost or fixed -effectiveness approach will determine
the trade -off between these criteria.
The study recognizes that research to determine
appropriate hydrologic models for monthly streamfiow generation for tributary projects in the Basin is necessary.
This leads to another important area of research which is
to find the appropriate number of monthly sequences of
streamflow to be generated in relation to number of states
and decision variables. Research on the design of computer
experiments is necessary to improve simulation as a tool to
estimate the quantitative effects of a given project.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/617592 |
| Date | 06 1900 |
| Creators | Chaemsaithong, Kanchit |
| Contributors | Department of Hydrology & Water Resources, The University of Arizona |
| Publisher | Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Technical Report |
| Source | Provided by the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources. |
| Rights | Copyright © Arizona Board of Regents |
| Relation | Technical Reports on Natural Resource Systems, No. 19 |
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