Optimal design of agricultural water systems with multiperiod collection, storage, and distribution

• A multi-objective optimization formulation for agricultural water using is proposed.
• Optimal collection, storage, reuse and distribution are considered.
• A multiperiod framework was implemented.
• The proposed approach was applied to a case study from Mexico.
• Results show significant economic and environmental benefits.

Water is one of the most valuable resources in the world and the agriculture is one the largest fresh water consumers due to the low efficiencies in the irrigation processes. This paper proposes a mathematical programming model for the optimal planning of an integrated system which involves water collection, reuse, and distribution strategies. Because of the variability in water supplies and demands throughout the year, a multiperiod optimization approach is adopted. The multi-objective function includes the minimization of fresh water consumption and the minimization of the total annual cost, this cost is divided in capital cost which consists of the catchment areas, storages and pumps, as well as the operating cost for pumping and fresh water. A multi-objective mixed-integer nonlinear programming model is formulated and solved using the ɛ-constrained method. The applicability of the proposed approach was shown through a case study from the State of Michoacán in Mexico where a lot of fresh water is consumed for agricultural purposes. The results show that fresh water consumption can be significantly reduced by the implementation of the proposed approach while simultaneously addressing the economic objective.