The application of system dynamics to water resources sustainable use for the Kaopin river basin

Abstract

The demand for water in Kaopin river basin has increased significantly in recent years owing to industrial growth and increasing living standards. This situation not only raises the crisis of water deficit but also brings serious problem of water pollution. Hence, any suitable strategy is required to consider simultaneously the effect between water quantity and water quality. A system dynamics model is including the critical feedback structures in the system. Simulating the model shows the effect of the system structure on policy interventions. Therefore, system dynamics is well-suited to analyzing problems whose behavior is governed by feedback relationships and which have a long-term time horizon. Finally, this study addressed two major problems: 1) water deficit, 2) water pollution and then makes the appropriate strategy to avoid the huge impact between water deficit and water pollution and also prohibit the time delay of strategy.