Application of simulation techniques to water resource policy planning and decision-making is of comparatively recent origin. The pioneering work in this direction was started by the Harvard Water Program in the late 1950’s, and the now famous Harvard “Blue Book”, Design of Water-Resource Systems, was an output of that program. The program attempted to integrate economic, engineering and governmental planning in designing multi-purpose, multi-unit water resource systems. The group made the first computer simulation of a simplified river basin and also developed mathematical models for programming river systems. Since then, considerable progress has been made in the application of simulation techniques to water resource policy planning and decision-making. The purpose of this paper is to examine briefly the current status of socio-economic simulation in water resource planning.
By Peter J. Reynolds and Asit K. Biswas, 1969. Article published in International Association for Hydraulic Research.