Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study
Abstract
The Colorado River Basin Water Supply & Demand Study (Study), part of the Basin Study Program under the Department of the Interior's WaterSMART Program, is being conducted by the Bureau of Reclamation and agencies representing the seven Colorado River Basin States. The purpose of the Study is to assess future water supply and demand imbalances in the Colorado River Basin over the next 50 years and develop and evaluate options and strategies to resolve those imbalances. The Study is being conducted over the period from January 2010 to September 2012 and contains four major phases: Water Supply Assessment, Water Demand Assessment, System Reliability Analysis, and Development and Evaluation of Opportunities for balancing supply and demand. To address the considerable amount of uncertainty in projecting the future state of the Colorado River system, the Study has adopted a scenario planning approach that has resulted in four water supply scenarios and up to six water demand scenarios. The water supply scenarios consider hydrologic futures derived from the observed historical and paleo-reconstructed records as well as downscaled global climate model (GCM) projections. The water demand scenarios contain differing projections of parameters such as population growth, water use efficiency, irrigated acreage, and water use for energy that result in varying projections of future demand. Demand for outdoor municipal uses as well as agricultural uses were adjusted based on changing rates of evapotranspiration derived from downscaled GCM projections. Water supply and demand scenarios are combined through Reclamation's long-term planning model to project the effects of future supply and demand imbalances on Colorado River Basin resources. These projections lend to an assessment of the effectiveness of a broad range of options and strategies to address future imbalances.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFM.H43C1362P
- Keywords:
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- 1873 HYDROLOGY / Uncertainty assessment;
- 1880 HYDROLOGY / Water management