Accurately simulating water rights is of utmost importance in water resource system models of Colorado's basins; however, the complexity of their water right system presents challenges for many modeling platforms. A primary strength of the Colorado Decision Support System's (CDSS) surface water model, StateMod, lies in its ability to simulate these systems, which has become trusted after years of development and use. RiverWare is a state-of-the-art, powerful, and widely used modeling platform that excels in many of the areas where StateMod is limited. However, RiverWare's ability to simulate water rights remain largely untested in Colorado water rights systems.

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate RiverWare's ability to simulate components of Colorado's complex water right systems. This was accomplished by developing a RiverWare model that simulates the water rights system of Colorado's White River basin, and by analyzing and comparing its simulation process and results against the existing StateMod model of the same basin.