Research on Optimal Allocation of Water Resources in Handan City Based on the Refined Water Resource Allocation Model
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This paper takes Handan city in Hebei province as an example, constructs a multi-water joint allocation model, and studies the water resources allocation scheme in various areas of the city under different hydrological situations. The article has a clear logic, credible conclusions， and strong innovation, which can be used as a reference for optimal water resource allocation in water-scarce areas. The following are the modifications.
1. Figure1 only has administrative divisions and water resources zoning, it is suggested to add the locations and routes of water transfer projects and important reservoirs, such as South-North Water Transfer Central Line and Yellow River Water Diversion.
2. This paper should include a separate section on research methods in front of the results, which can include a multi-water allocation model, water demand prediction method, water supply prediction method, etc.
3. The content is missing the water demand quota, water consumption indexes of life, agriculture, and economy, and water demand comparison for 3 horizontal years.
4. What is the trend of local water resources and water supply before 2020? In drought years and normal years, what are the main differences between water supply and water demand?
5. Line 180: What is the meaning of the objective function and the constraint reference [10]? It is suggested to add the connection and difference between the model in this paper and the literature [10].
6. Is it necessary to consider the utilization and configuration of unconventional water in Figure 5?
7. The colors corresponding to the water shortage rate levels in Fig. 10, Fig. 11, Fig. 12, and Fig. 13 are not uniform, and it is suggested to revise the uniform color standard.
8. Section 6 is mainly a conclusion, not a discussion, and it is suggested that in the conclusion section, the role of the optimization model and the response strategy to ensure water security in drought years should be emphasized.
9. The format of some references is not standardized, such as in literature 8, 10, 20, and 23.
10. Detailed problems and suggestions:
Line 24: Replace " depending water resources" with " depending on water resources".
Line 68: Replace " At the recent years " with " In recent years ".
Line 93: Replace " in July to August each year " with from July to August each year ".
Line 96: Replace " 1.088 billion m3" with " 1.088 billion m3 ".
Line 103: Replace " water resources is at a high level " with " water resources are at a high level".
Line 110: Replace " The proportion agriculture " with " The proportion of agriculture".
Line 199-204: Adjusting the alignment of paragraphs.
Line 444 and 446: Replace "accounted" with " accounting".
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
This manuscript aims at realizing the dynamic regulation and control of regional water resources and alleviating the imbalance between supply and demand of regional water resources. The paper is well structured, and the results are quite interesting. I only have minor comments before publication. These are the following:
The first sentence of the abstract is huge. Authors should split the sentence in two. For example: “This study aims to realize the dynamic regulation and control of regional water resources and alleviate the imbalance between supply and demand of regional water resources. In order to achieve the study objective, the dynamic General Water Allocation and Simulation Model (GWAS) of Handan city is constructed…”.
L.14 – There are two “models” in the sentence. Kindly delete one of those.
L.35 – Kindly revise the English in this sentence. It does not make sense to start the sentence with “How to…”.
Figure 1 legend – Kindly delete the “The” in the legend. It should be “Location and administrative division”.
Section 2.2. The references to Handan Statistical Yearbook (2020) and Handan Water Resources Bulletin in 2010-2020 should be provided in the References section.
Section 4.1. The objective functions and constraints should also be provided in this paper and not only in reference [10]. Otherwise, the reader needs to stop reading this paper to read reference [10]. Kindly provide more information about the objective functions and constraints in Section 4.1.
Section 6 should be Conclusions instead of Discussion. In Line 498 the authors state “The following conclusions are obtained”.
L.499 – “The total water demand of Handan in 2025 is estimated to be 2.54 billion m3” instead of “will be 2.54 billion m3”.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
Reference Number: water-2110302
Review of “Research on Optimal Allocation of Water Resources in Handan City Based on Refined Water Resources Allocation Model”
There are some comments for authors to improve the quality of manuscript as follows:
(1) Introduction section can include four key components: motivation, literature survey, contributions, and the organization of paper. Please modify this section accordingly. Firstly, please highlight the aim and objective of developed method in the end of “Introduction” section. Meanwhile, the structure of this paper is deficit. Please add some expression in the ending of “Introduction” section.
(2) Please add some more detailed previous studies to support your developed model. There are many good studies in the related fields such as water resources management, but which have their shortcomings. Please enhance your novelty of developed method based on previous research works. Meanwhile, please update the reference lists including the most recent and relevant references. Some useful references are supplied as follows: (a) Modeling of water resources allocation and water quality management for supporting regional sustainability under uncertainty in an arid region. (b) A two-stage interval-stochastic water trading model for allocating water resources of Kaidu-kongque river in northwestern China. (c) A multi-reservoir based water-hydroenergy management model for identifying the risk horizon of regional resources-energy policy under uncertainties. (d) A mix inexact-quadratic fuzzy water resources management model of floodplain (IQT-WMMF) for regional sustainable development of Dahuangbaowa, China. (e) An inexact joint-probabilistic programming method for risk assessment in water resources allocation.
(3) The framework of your developed model should be added.
(4) The practical issues of study area should be fortified. Why did authors develop this method? What did this method deal with practical problems in study region? What are the advantages of this method in Handan application? All above issues should be added.
(5) There are numbers of interesting contexts in Figure 5, such as South to North diversion project, river canal system and Diverting the Yellow River into Hebei. How did these interesting elements exit or be reflect in Modeling formulation section?
(6) In this study, the data source of various variable are not clear enough. Please add data sources and calculation methods of input data.
(7) How did the scenario assume in this paper? Is any design principle in scenario assumption? Please add corresponding expressions. Meanwhile, the scenario analysis should be revised in result section in a clear manner. For instance, is there any scenario (such as basic scenario) in Figure 7? What are the scenarios in Figures 8 and 9?
(6) There are too many figures can be integrated. For example, Figures 8 and 9 can be integrated into a figure.
(8) How did authors definite “dry year” and “normal year”? Is there principle? How did authors calculate “dry year” and “normal year”?
(9) The “Result analysis” should be refined and simplified to protrude some interesting and new results. Meanwhile, various policy suggestion or advanced method should be added into “Discussion” section to remit water shortage rate. For instance, market approach can be introduced to improve the productivity of water resources, which can prompt water resources from low value to high one. It can also accelerate water saving, which can remit water shortage.
(11) The language of the paper needs improvement. For example: there are very long sentences in the manuscript that need to be revised. Meanwhile, some of the sentences also have structural issue. Moreover, numbers of grammatical errors exist in the manuscript that needs to be corrected.
(12) The “Conclusion” section should be revised to highlight the novelty of this paper. It is expected to include not only general description of the proposed method but also a brief summary of disadvantages of this method and some future study works. It would help the readers better understand the limitation and improvement of the proposed method.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The author has done a good job of revising and explaining the previous comments and suggestions, and I agree to accept in present form.
Reviewer 3 Report
This version is OK.
