Accurate long–term water resource supply simulation and demand estimation are crucial for effective water resource allocation. This study proposes advanced artificial intelligence (AI)–based models for both long–term water resource supply simulation and demand estimation, specifically focusing on the ShihMen Reservoir in Taiwan. A Long Short–Term Memory (LSTM) network model was developed to simulate daily reservoir inflow. The climate factors from the Taiwan Central Weather Bureau’s one–tiered atmosphere–ocean coupled climate forecast system (TCWB1T1) were downscaled using the K–Nearest Neighbors (KNN) method and integrated with the reservoir inflow model to forecast inflow six months ahead. Additionally, Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) were employed to estimate agricultural and public water demand, integrating both hydrological and socio–economic factors. The models were trained and validated using historical data, with the LSTM model demonstrating a strong ability to capture seasonal variations in inflow patterns and the MLP and GRU models effectively estimating water demand. The results highlight the models’ high accuracy and robustness, offering valuable insights into regional water resource allocation. This research provides a framework for integrating AI–driven models with Decision Support Systems (DSSs) to enhance water resource management, especially in regions vulnerable to climatic variability.
This study makes a unique contribution by evaluating the effectiveness of the Switch Prediction Method (SPM) in integrating ensemble rainfall forecasts, significantly improving the accuracy of long-term inflow forecasting for reservoirs—a crucial aspect of hydrological forecasting. The proposed approach combines Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) data with advanced machine learning techniques, specifically Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models, to develop a robust forecasting framework. The study utilizes comprehensive datasets from the ShihMen Reservoir in Taiwan to assess the performance of the proposed model. The SPM dynamically integrates multiple meteorological forecasts to reduce uncertainty and improve rainfall input accuracy. These enhanced inputs are then used in multi-step forecasting (MSF) models with a 72-hour lead time. The results demonstrate that the LSTM-based model, combined with SPM-integrated forecasts, delivers accurate and stable inflow predictions. For instance, in the case of Typhoon Soudelor—the test event with the highest observed peak inflow (5,634.1 cms)—the proposed SPM-LSTM-MSF model achieved a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 178.8 cms and a Coefficient of Efficiency (CE) of 0.87, demonstrating superior accuracy and temporal stability compared to the SVM-based approach. These findings highlight the potential of SPM and machine learning techniques in enhancing reservoir management and flood control strategies, offering a robust and adaptable solution for complex hydrological forecasting tasks.
This study makes a unique contribution by evaluating the effectiveness of the Switch Prediction Method (SPM) in integrating ensemble rainfall forecasts, significantly improving the accuracy of long-term inflow forecasting for reservoirs—a crucial aspect of hydrological forecasting. The proposed approach combines Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) data with advanced machine learning techniques, specifically Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models, to develop a robust forecasting framework. The study utilizes comprehensive datasets from the ShihMen Reservoir in Taiwan to assess the performance of the proposed model. The SPM dynamically integrates multiple meteorological forecasts to reduce uncertainty and improve rainfall input accuracy. These enhanced inputs are then used in multi-step forecasting (MSF) models with a 72-hour lead time. The results demonstrate that the LSTM-based model, combined with SPM-integrated forecasts, delivers accurate and stable inflow predictions. For instance, in the case of Typhoon Soudelor—the test event with the highest observed peak inflow (5,634.1 cms)—the proposed SPM-LSTM-MSF model achieved a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 178.8 cms and a Coefficient of Efficiency (CE) of 0.87, demonstrating superior accuracy and temporal stability compared to the SVM-based approach. These findings highlight the potential of SPM and machine learning techniques in enhancing reservoir management and flood control strategies, offering a robust and adaptable solution for complex hydrological forecasting tasks.
3 July 2026 in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
Accurate long lead-time reservoir inflow forecasting under typhoon conditions remains a significant challenge due to the high uncertainty in rainfall predictions and the complex rainfall–runoff processes. This study makes a unique contribution by evaluating the effectiveness of the Switch Prediction Method (SPM) in integrating ensemble rainfall forecasts, significantly improving the accuracy of long-term inflow forecasting for reservoirs – a crucial aspect of hydrological forecasting. The proposed approach combines Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) data with machine learning techniques, specifically Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models, to develop a robust forecasting framework. The study utilizes comprehensive datasets from the ShihMen Reservoir in Taiwan to assess the performance of the proposed model. The SPM dynamically integrates multiple meteorological forecasts to reduce uncertainty and improve rainfall input accuracy, which are then used in multi-step forecasting (MSF) models with a 72 h lead time. Among the tested models, the SPM-LSTM-MSF framework achieved the best performance, demonstrating both high accuracy and temporal stability. For example, in the case of Typhoon Soudelor – the event with the highest observed peak inflow (5634.1 m3 s−1) – the model achieved a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 178.8 m3 s−1 and a Coefficient of Efficiency (CE) of 0.87. Unlike conventional ensemble approaches that rely on static or probabilistic weighting schemes, the proposed method employs the SPM to dynamically select and integrate rainfall forecasts based on real-time performance. By coupling SPM with machine learning models, the framework effectively reduces uncertainty propagation from rainfall forecasts to inflow prediction, resulting in improved accuracy and robustness for long-term reservoir inflow forecasting under highly variable typhoon conditions.
This study makes a unique contribution by evaluating the effectiveness of the Switch Prediction Method (SPM) in integrating ensemble rainfall forecasts, significantly improving the accuracy of long-term inflow forecasting for reservoirs—a crucial aspect of hydrological forecasting. The proposed approach combines Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) data with advanced machine learning techniques, specifically Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models, to develop a robust forecasting framework. The study utilizes comprehensive datasets from the ShihMen Reservoir in Taiwan to assess the performance of the proposed model. The SPM dynamically integrates multiple meteorological forecasts to reduce uncertainty and improve rainfall input accuracy. These enhanced inputs are then used in multi-step forecasting (MSF) models with a 72-hour lead time. The results demonstrate that the LSTM-based model, combined with SPM-integrated forecasts, delivers accurate and stable inflow predictions. For instance, in the case of Typhoon Soudelor—the test event with the highest observed peak inflow (5,634.1 cms)—the proposed SPM-LSTM-MSF model achieved a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 178.8 cms and a Coefficient of Efficiency (CE) of 0.87, demonstrating superior accuracy and temporal stability compared to the SVM-based approach. These findings highlight the potential of SPM and machine learning techniques in enhancing reservoir management and flood control strategies, offering a robust and adaptable solution for complex hydrological forecasting tasks.
This study makes a unique contribution by evaluating the effectiveness of the Switch Prediction Method (SPM) in integrating ensemble rainfall forecasts, significantly improving the accuracy of long-term inflow forecasting for reservoirs—a crucial aspect of hydrological forecasting. The proposed approach combines Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) data with advanced machine learning techniques, specifically Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models, to develop a robust forecasting framework. The study utilizes comprehensive datasets from the ShihMen Reservoir in Taiwan to assess the performance of the proposed model. The SPM dynamically integrates multiple meteorological forecasts to reduce uncertainty and improve rainfall input accuracy. These enhanced inputs are then used in multi-step forecasting (MSF) models with a 72-hour lead time. The results demonstrate that the LSTM-based model, combined with SPM-integrated forecasts, delivers accurate and stable inflow predictions. For instance, in the case of Typhoon Soudelor—the test event with the highest observed peak inflow (5,634.1 cms)—the proposed SPM-LSTM-MSF model achieved a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 178.8 cms and a Coefficient of Efficiency (CE) of 0.87, demonstrating superior accuracy and temporal stability compared to the SVM-based approach. These findings highlight the potential of SPM and machine learning techniques in enhancing reservoir management and flood control strategies, offering a robust and adaptable solution for complex hydrological forecasting tasks.