On an optimal control policy for stormwater management in two connected dams

Abstract

We consider the management of water in two connected dams. Stormwater generated by rainfall flows into a large capture dam and is subsequently pumped to a smaller supply dam. We use a discrete state space and assume random supply and daily demand. A simple management policy is to pump as much water as possible each day from the capture dam to the supply dam without allowing the supply dam to overflow. We shall refer to this policy as pump-to-fill. We will show that pump-to-fill minimizes overflow from the system and maximizes the amount of demand met thus providing the optimal pumping policy between a pair of discrete dams in series with a general input and demand process.