The control point models a location on a river where certain flow requirements (maximum and minimums) must be maintained. The control points are used for flood control operations such that the flood control releases do not cause an exceedence of channel capacity at these points. They also represent the location for low-flow demands and additions of uncontrolled local flows.

Control points (and reservoirs) are used to bring uncontrolled area flows into the system. The USACE‑SWD data for uncontrolled area flows is the cumulative, uncontrolled area flow from the upstream reservoir to the control point, adjusted for routing. As a result, it cannot be input directly into the Local Inflow slot or the flows would be multiply counted. Also, the uncontrolled flows must be forecasted to provide an estimate throughout the forecast period. Specific methods must be selected to deal with these two unique aspects. See Forecasting Incremental Local Inflows From Cumulative Flows for details.

Control Points located at the outflow of a reservoir (or those that don’t have local inflows) should not use these methods; they should keep the None method selected in the Local Inflow category.