OPTIMIZATION OF AVAILABLE WATER RESOURCES FOR IRRIGATION USE THROUGH FUZZY LOGIC SYSTEM, CASE STUDY: JAYAKWADI PROJECT (MAHARASHTRA)

The optimization problem attempts to find, out of many feasible combinations of resources and their allocations, a suitable combination, which maximizes a benefit or minimizes a cost subject to given constraints should be expressed through simple linear algebraic expression or equations. Fuzzy Linear Programming (FLP) has many applications in water resources engineering. It has been used for planning the conjunctive use of surface water in canal command regions. The proposed FLP supports the cooperation between water administration and water users, and also the cultivators in relation to revising cropping pattern. Fuzzy system modelling considers the fuzziness in the variables, which can be implemented in the field. The degree of satisfaction gives the reliability of the fuzzy modelling. In the earlier studies, many researches have included the fuzziness in a linguistic form and also included either in the inflow or in the demand. Hence, it is felt necessary to carry out study on development and application fuzzy logic system in context with the sustainable development. Model was used in command regions under Jayakwadi irrigation project for determining optimal cropping activities during kharif, rabi, and hot weather seasons so as to maximize economic returns to the agricultural producers by making most efficient use of surface water resources at different reliable flow conditions. INTRODUCTION The water resources scenario of India is depended with the vagaries of monsoons and wide variation in spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall, resulting in drought-flood-drought syndrome. Nearly one third of the country is drought-prone while one eighth of the country is flood-prone. The explosive increase in population is adding pressure on water resources. Necessity has arisen now for a scientific approach to the problems so as to meet the future needs. The National Water Policy suggests that the water resources development projects should, as far as possible, be planned and developed as multi-purpose projects, with the drinking water supply as top priority, followed by irrigation, hydropower, flood control, recreation etc. The situation calls for an optimal utilization of the limited water resources through integrated operation at river basin level for the projects already developed and for integrated planning for the new projects so as to utilize the available water resources in most optimal manner. The water resources scenario in Maharashtra State is drought-prone due to frequent failures of monsoon, and occasionally flood-prone due to excessive rainfall. The state enjoys the available surface water resources from the major projects viz. Koyna, Jayakwadi, Purna, Pench etc. but with the growing needs population there is a necessity to conserve these resources with application of system analysis techniques. Agriculture sector consumes around 80 percent of the available resources and this point to the fact that there is a scope for conservation of water in this area, if the proper management strategies are applied. The need of the hour is to apply modern methods to conserve the available water resources. Fortnightly inflow data as recorded by the Irrigation Department, Government of Maharashtra, has been slightly modified for arithmetic discrepancies, to use in the simulation studies to assess the area which may be reliably irrigated. In the present study, these inflow values from 1979 to 1996 are used to develop the stochastic model for forecasting the inflows. The statistical properties of the data series are presented in the results and the reservoir release policies for the Jayakwadi project are framed on inflows to the reservoir and the initial storage available at the beginning of the season. Even though the policy for reservoir releases is framed for a season/year, based on average inflows, its application in real-time is constrained by the average inflows taking place during the operational period. Optimization of reservoir releases at the planning stage becomes necessary in order to comply with the normal operational system constraints. The system formulation is based on mathematical modelling and its behavior is assessed in terms of cost of the