Use of reservoir operational analysis in reducing impacts of water resources systems upon environment

Water resources engineers are often confronted with the task of planning water resources development schemes to match the water resources available in a certain area with the various demands for it. Such water resources schemes comprise of different types of structures, which undoubtedly affect the environment. Therefore, at the planning stage of water resources schemes, efforts have to be made to minimize the number of such structures to control their impacts upon the environment. This paper shows how an operational analysis of such a scheme would assist in identifying the most important components of a scheme, at the planning stage.