A hybrid conceptual–fuzzy inference streamflow modelling for the Letaba River system in South Africa

There has been considerable water resources developments in South Africa and other regions in the world in order to meet the ever-increasing water demands. These developments have not been matched with a similar development of hydrological monitoring systems and hence there is inadequate data for managing the developed water resources systems. The Letaba River system (Fig. 1) is a typical case of such a system in South Africa. The available water on this river is over-allocated and reliable daily streamflow modelling of the Letaba River that adequately incorporates the main components and processes would be an invaluable aid to optimal operation of the system. This study describes the development of a calibrated hybrid conceptual–fuzzy-logic model and explores its capability in reproducing the natural processes and human effects on the daily stream flow in the Letaba River. The model performance is considered satisfactory in view of the complexity of the system and inadequacy of relevant data. Performance in modelling streamflow improves towards the downstream and matches that of a stand-alone fuzzy-logic model. The hybrid model obtains realistic estimates of the major system components and processes including the capacities of the farm dams and storage weirs and their trajectories. This suggests that for complex data-scarce River systems, hybrid conceptual–fuzzy-logic modelling may be used for more detailed and dependable operational and planning analysis than stand-alone fuzzy modelling. Further work will include developing and testing other hybrid model configurations.