By Steve Setzer, John Carron and Kevin Wheeler (AMEC Earth and Environmental)

Abstract: AMEC developed three RiverWare models for the Lower Colorado River Authority, Texas, as part of the Daily River Operation Model (DROM) project. These include an hourly routing model, a daily reservoir release model, and a daily accounting model. The hourly model is used to route release from Tom Miller Dam to diversion points downstream. It is intended to identify short term gaps at diversion points and instream flow targets as a result of hourly release schedules. The daily reservoir release model uses the RiverWare water rights solver to determine the minimum daily release volume from the Highland Lakes required to meet downstream demands and instream flow targets. The daily accounting model also uses the RiverWare water rights solver. It uses the actual reservoir releases that occurred earlier in the month and determines the breakdown of run-of-river and stored water release. It also determines the breakdown of run-of-river water and stored water diverted by each water user.