ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the general formulation of the mathematical optimization problem for finding the optimal control strategy for the general water system and showed the methods which can be used to solve that problem. Several methods are applied to solve operational control problems. Basically, all are optimization methods. The main methods discussed are: heuristic rules, verification, neural networks, genetic algorithms and mathematical optimization. A mathematical model should be formulated in such a way that it can be solved by means of a mathematical programming algorithm. Male and Soliman describe a mathematical programming procedure that can aid in the management of the Chicago River and Canal system. It involves formulating their water-control problem as an Network Programming (NP) problem that can be solved using an efficient NP solver. The optimization module determines the optimal control strategy for the water system, taking into account the objectives set for interests during the control horizon.
