Controlling a dam to environmentally acceptable standards through the use of a Decision Support Tool

We aim to establish a simple mathematical tool that could be used to set an appropriate level for the environmental levy which would allow a dam operator to remain profitable, yet also to ensure that the operator's policy is environmentally acceptable. We shall use Bellman's principle of optimality to solve an optimal control problem which will simulate the Station Operator's behaviour. The problem of the Regulatory Authority is multi-criteria and will be solved through aDecision Support Tool. The degree of fulfilment of the criteria will be a function of the target lake level, target extraction rate, and the level of the environmental levy. We will investigate the extent to which the targets are satisfied when the levy is altered.Research supported by VUW Graduate School of Business and Management.