Feng et al. (2026) Multi-objective optimization of water–sediment-ecology coordinated operation for cascade reservoirs in the Yellow River Basin

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Identification

• Journal: Journal of Hydrology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-22
• Authors: Zhong-kai Feng, Liang Shen, Tie-sheng Guan, Ai-hua Long, Qin Xu, Xing Chen, Wenjing Niu
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.136069

Research Groups

• Institute of Hydrology and Water Resources, Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute
• Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Water Security in Yangtze River Basin, Ministry of Water Resources

Short Summary

This study develops an adaptive multi-objective optimization framework to coordinate the operation of two cascade reservoirs in the Yellow River Basin, balancing hydropower generation, sediment flushing, and downstream ecological protection.

Objective

• Investigate the multi-objective coordinated operation of Sanmenxia (SMX) and Xiaolangdi (XLD) cascade reservoirs in the Yellow River Basin to balance competing water demands and environmental concerns.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: The study focuses on a specific river basin, with spatial scales ranging from individual reservoirs to the entire Yellow River Basin.
• Temporal Scale: The temporal scale encompasses various hydrological years (wet, normal, dry) to account for seasonal variability in water availability and demand.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Adaptive multi-objective JAYA algorithm (MOJAYA), Gaussian Copula functions for multivariate dependence analysis.
• Data sources: Historical data from the Yellow River Basin, including hydropower generation, sediment flushing, and downstream ecological indicators.

Main Results

• The optimized schemes significantly outperform actual operations in terms of power generation and ecological water shortage rate.
• In wet years, power generation increases by 5% while the ecological water shortage rate is reduced from 2.01% to 0.84%.
• In dry years, the joint scheduling effectively mitigates severe disruptions to ecological flow while maintaining energy reliability.

Contributions

This research provides a robust decision-support framework for balancing economic development and ecological integrity in complex, sediment-heavy river basins, addressing the critical challenge of water-sediment-ecology nexus management.

Funding

• National Key Research and Development Program (2016YFC0401403)
• China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M680111)

Citation

@article{Feng2026Multiobjective,
  author = {Feng, Zhong-kai and Shen, Liang and Guan, Tie-sheng and Long, Ai-hua and Xu, Qin and Chen, Xing and Niu, Wenjing},
  title = {Multi-objective optimization of water–sediment-ecology coordinated operation for cascade reservoirs in the Yellow River Basin},
  journal = {Journal of Hydrology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.136069},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.136069}
}