Demonstration of Integrated Reservoir Operations and Extreme Hydroclimate Modeling of Water Temperatures for Fish Sustainability below Shasta Lake
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 143, Issue 10
Abstract
Construction of Shasta Dam on the Sacramento River in 1945 prevented anadromous fish from accessing their natural cold-water spawning habitat above the dam and is one of the factors that caused population declines in Chinook salmon and other species. To address listing of winter-run Chinook salmon under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began operating a temperature-control device (TCD) on Shasta Dam in 1997 that enabled selective withdrawal of reservoir outflows for control of downstream water temperatures while maximizing power generation. However, effectiveness of TCD operations for addressing fisheries concerns under hydroclimate variability is unknown. Stochastic methods to generate synthetic extreme hydroclimate conditions were combined with hydrodynamic modeling of reservoir operations and interactions with reservoir managers to examine the TCD’s ability to meet downstream temperature objectives. Model simulations suggest that TCD withdrawal schedules could reduce outflow temperature target exceedances when compared with more traditional dam operations such as solely hypolimnetic or epilimnetic releases. However, constraints imposed by multipurpose operational considerations, especially under extreme climate conditions, and the Sacramento–San Joaquin system’s complex regulatory environment limit use of reservoir management to provide optimal thermal conditions best for Chinook salmon spawning and recruitment.
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Acknowledgments
This project was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s Sector Applications and Research Program (Award Number NA12OAR4310093). A. Dai was partially funded on the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program at the University of Nevada, Reno (Award Number 1263352). The authors thank Paul Fujitani, Kristin White, Thuy Nguyen, Tom Morstein-Marx, and Russ Yaworsky of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for providing valuable insights for the project. The authors also appreciate the contributions of Jason Caldwell of MetStat, Inc., and Alexes Garrett, Joel Hupp, and Lisa Atwell Holan of the University of Nevada, Reno, for their assistance with the project. The authors thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 143 • Issue 10 • October 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 14, 2016
Accepted: May 3, 2017
Published online: Jul 31, 2017
Published in print: Oct 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Dec 31, 2017
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