Application of a goal programming algorithm to incorporate environmental requirements in a multi-objective Columbia River Treaty Reservoir optimization model

Due to large variability in streamflows and a lack of adequate reservoir storage capability in US territories, a treaty for the Columbia River was established between Canada and the USA in 1964. However, the treaty only considers power generation and flood control, and to address environmental issues, supplemental operating agreements have been signed each year since the 1990s. In this paper, we present a goal programming (GP) optimization algorithm to model the terms and conditions of the Supplemental Operating Agreements of the Columbia River Treaty (CRT) between BC Hydro and “United States Entities”. The GP technique is a multi-objective programming method that has been used in many different fields including reservoir optimization. After its introduction in 1961, it has been used extensively and is considered a robust modeling technique. The GP algorithm we have developed models the multi-objective problem using a combination of lexicographic and weighted goal-programming techniques. Case studies usin...