Storing and managing water for the environment is more efficient than mimicking natural flows.
Nat Commun
; 15(1): 5462, 2024 Jun 27.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38937466
ABSTRACT
Dams and reservoirs are often needed to provide environmental water and maintain suitable water temperatures for downstream ecosystems. Here, we evaluate if water allocated to the environment, with storage to manage it, might allow environmental water to more reliably meet ecosystem objectives than a proportion of natural flow. We use a priority-based water balance operations model and a reservoir temperature model to evaluate 1) pass-through of a portion of reservoir inflow versus 2) allocating a portion of storage capacity and inflow for downstream flow and stream temperature objectives. We compare trade-offs to other senior and junior priority water demands. In many months, pass-through flows exceed the volumes needed to meet environmental demands. Storage provides the ability to manage release timing to use water efficiently for environmental benefit, with a co-benefit of increasing reservoir storage to protect cold-water at depth in the reservoir.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Nat Commun
/
Nature communications
Journal subject:
BIOLOGIA
/
CIENCIA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States
Country of publication:
United kingdom