AGRA, S. T. M. C.; AGRA, Sérgio Torres de M. Costa.
Abstract:
Reservoirs built in regions with a typically semi-arid climate and low average annual rainfall
are susceptible to rapid and damaging interannual variability in their volume, which directly
influences the quantity and quality of water available to the population supplied by it. For
this reason that the present work aimed to analyze different operating scenarios, through
alert levels, which are parameters for controlling the volume of the reservoir and demand
coefficients, which reduce the outflow for each alert level reached. The reservoir under study
is the Açude Epitácio Pessoa (Boqueirão), located in Paraíba and due to the variability of
its annual recharge, the reservoir demands for efficient operation measures. Induced by the
characteristics of the region, such as climate, rainfall and evaporation losses, in addition
to information from water agencies, five operating policies have been proposed. Through
simulation approaches with historical series of precipitation and water balance, numerical
results of these simulations were obtained, being analyzed by performance criteria. The
results indicate that scenarios of greater reliability are not always ideal, and may present
less resilience and greater vulnerability, which implies that there is no ideal policy, and
that any decision making by the reservoir managers must be supported by more factors
than only numerical indicators.
