Optimizing the Allocation of Water Resources and Consumption in the Philippines Using Linear Programming

Water scarcity is a pressing issue that is exacerbated by population growth, urbanization, and climate change. To address this, sustainable and effective water management must be practiced. In this study, linear programming was used to determine the optimal allocation of the forecasted 2023 water supply in the Philippines. The objective function and constraints were set using data from the Philippine Statistics Authority. Results indicate that the minimum expenses on water for the year 2023 amounted to PHP 129,440,000,000. The energy sector had the highest share in total water use under the optimal solution. On the other hand, households had the lowest share among the six sectors. The researchers suggest that future studies incorporate more constraints related to the costs or profit from water usage per sector to improve the linear programming model. Moreover, future researchers may explore alternative methods outside of MATLAB, such as those that use simplex tableaus.