Long-term management and discounting of groundwater resources with a case study of Kukio̕ Hawaii̕

Long-term management strategies for groundwater resources are examined with theoretical examples and with a case study of Kuki'o, Hawai'i. In Part I a groundwater mining and a dryland salinization optimal management problem are solved analytically, and used to examine the implications of how one values the future through discounting. Exponential and hyperbolic discounting functions are tested with the full range of discount rates and time-scales for the hydrologic system. While the optimal management strategies change depending on the form of the discounting function, they are relatively insensitive to the discount rate itself. For all solutions an initial Dirac delta of pumping brings the system from initial conditions to the optimal trajectory. Following this initial spike of pumping, the exponential pumping solutions are constant over all time. The hyperbolic pumping solutions are more complex, time-dependent functions and they asymptotically approach the no-discounting solution at late times. In Part II a hydrologic-economic model is constructed for a dual coastal and high-level aquifer system at Kuki'o, Hawai'i. The high-level aquifer is modeled as a leaky bucket, while the coastal aquifer is modeled using a sharp-interface formulation of the basal lens. Salinization of pumping wells due to saltwater upconing is superimposed upon the sharp-interface model using an empirical equation based on data from the area.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Duarte, Thomas KaeÌ o, 1973-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Charles F. Harvey.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8162

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8162