Simulation Modeling to Secure Environmental Flows in a Diversion Modified Flow Regime
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 142, Issue 11
Abstract
This paper describes the development and application of a spreadsheet model to evaluate effects of water management on diversion modified flow regimes, enabling the exploration of novel ways to meet proposed environmental flow standards. Mill Creek, a northern California river with an altered flow regime that impacts aquatic species, was used as a case study. Test cases examined how water management alternatives, such as groundwater pumping, water rights transfers, and water exchange agreements, can improve environmental flow allocations given irrigation water demands. Four test cases include passage flows for Chinook salmon and steelhead trout, a minimum instream flow, 80% of natural flow, and a spring recession flow with functional flow components. The model identified late October as consistently water-scarce, even in wet years. These analyses suggest that fall shortages for fish migration could be eliminated through a water exchange agreement combined with use of wells. All cases except the minimum fish passage flow case required acquisition of the largest water rights to decrease environmental shortages by over 80%, with a substantial curtailment in irrigation.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Maurice Hall, Tom Harmon, Erik Porse, David Rheinheimer, Gregg Werner, Ann Willis, Sarah Yarnell, and members of Jay Lund’s Water Systems Research group at UC Davis for insightful discussion and feedback on this work. This research was supported by the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, The Nature Conservancy, and the UC Davis Hydrologic Sciences Graduate Group Fellowship.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 142 • Issue 11 • November 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 24, 2015
Accepted: Apr 28, 2016
Published online: Jul 13, 2016
Published in print: Nov 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Dec 13, 2016
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