Storage Reservoir Behavior in the United States

Numerous experiments are performed that characterize the behavior of individual storage reservoirs across the United States. Storage-yield curves based on annual and monthly flow records are compared to show that the standardized net inflow and the coefficient of variation of net inflow (\IC\N\Dv\N) completely characterize the refill properties of storage reservoirs. For example, these experiments indicate that for any river with \IC\N\Dv\N>0.8, the design capacity of a reservoir is determined by annual fluctuations in streamflow alone, regardless of its size. Two new indices of resilience and vulnerability are derived for reservoirs fed by correlated lognormal inflows. Previous studies document that inflows to reservoirs in the United States may be approximated by correlated lognormal inflows. Combining these results with a recent inventory of thousands of storage reservoirs across the United States, along with regional climate and streamflow databases, we explore the behavior of individual storage reservoirs. We compare the resilience, reliability, yield, and vulnerability of individual storage reservoirs under existing scenarios and one possible future climate scenario.

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