Adapt Lake Mead Releases to Inflow to Give Managers More Flexibility to Slow Reservoir Drawdown
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 148, Issue 10
Abstract
Forum papers are thought-provoking opinion pieces or essays founded in fact, sometimes containing speculation, on a civil engineering topic of general interest and relevance to the readership of the journal. The views expressed in this Forum article do not necessarily reflect the views of ASCE or the Editorial Board of the journal.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available in a repository online in accordance with funder data retention policies (Rosenberg 2021a; Rosenberg 2022a, b).
Acknowledgments
Twenty-six Colorado River managers and experts provided feedback that improved the manuscript and/or flex accounts in a combined Lake Powell–Lake Mead system. Mahmudur Rahman Aveek (Utah State University) reproduced all figures and Table 3.
References
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Kuhn, E., and J. Fleck. 2019. Science be dammed: How ignoring inconvenient science drained the Colorado River. Tucson, AZ: Univ. of Arizona Press.
Moreo, M. T. 2015. Evaporation data from Lake Mead and Lake Mohave, Nevada and Arizona, March 2010 through April 2015. Washington, DC: USGS.
Rosenberg, D. E. 2021a. “Colorado River coding: Grand Canyon intervening flow.” Zenodo. Accessed April 11, 2022. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5501466.
Rosenberg, D. E. 2021b. “Colorado River coding: Intentionally created surplus for Lake Mead: Current accounts and next steps.” ICS folder, Zenodo. Accessed April 11, 2022. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5501466.
Rosenberg, D. E. 2022a.“ Colorado River coding: Lake Mead steady inflow simulations.” MeadInflowSimulations folder, Zenodo. Accessed April 11, 2022. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5501466.
Rosenberg, D. E. 2022b. Lessons from using Google Sheets and Zoom to provoke discussion about more adaptable Colorado River operations. Logan, UT: Utah State University.
Salehabadi, H., D. Tarboton, E. Kuhn, B. Udall, K. Wheeler, E. Rosenberg, S. Goeking, and J. C. Schmidt. 2020. Stream flow and losses of the Colorado River in the Southern Colorado Plateau. Logan, UT: Utah State Univ.
USBR (US Bureau of Reclamation). 2019. Agreement concerning Colorado River drought contingency management and operations. Washington, DC: USBR.
US Supreme Court. 1979. “Arizona v. California supplemental decree.” Accessed April 7, 2022. https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g1000/pdfiles/scsuppdc.pdf.
Wang, J., D. E. Rosenberg, J. C. Schmidt, and K. G. Wheeler. 2020. Managing the Colorado River for an uncertain future. Logan, UT: Utah State Univ.
Wang, J., and J. C. Schmidt. 2020. Stream flow and losses of the Colorado River in the southern Colorado Plateau. Logan, UT: Utah State Univ.
Wheeler, K. G., J. C. Schmidt, and D. E. Rosenberg. 2019. Water resource modelling of the Colorado River—Present and future strategies. Logan, UT: Utah State Univ.
Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 148 • Issue 10 • October 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 22, 2021
Accepted: May 5, 2022
Published online: Jul 19, 2022
Published in print: Oct 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Dec 19, 2022
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Cited by
- David E. Rosenberg, Lessons from Immersive Online Collaborative Modeling to Discuss More Adaptive Reservoir Operations, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 10.1061/JWRMD5.WRENG-5893, 150, 7, (2024).