Geophysical Research Letters "Declining reservoir reliability + increasing reservoir vulnerability: long-term observations reveal longer + more severe periods of low reservoir storage for major US reservoirs." Researchers used a 'novel and generalized approach to identify periods of unusually low reservoir storage—via comparisons to operational rule curves and historical patterns—to investigate how droughts affect storage in 250 reservoirs across the conterminous U.S. (CONUS).' Drought in water systems is a major challenge in managing water resources, particularly as heatwaves intervene + precipitation + snowpacks become less reliable. "Drought along with heatwaves represent nearly 25% of all long-term weather and climate disaster costs of over 1 billion dollars per event." Reservoirs integrate a multitude of basin signals from upstream, including meteorology, soils, snow, groundwater, streamflow, and water use, as well as downstream water use. "Two of CONUS's largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, recently reached unprecedented low storage during the region's driest 22-year period in 1200 years (2000–2021; Williams et al., 2022), triggering considerable water use restrictions across southwestern CONUS." Within-year storage reservoirs generally refill every year and fully replenish net drafts, while over-year storage reservoirs often take more than a year to fill. "Colorado River Basin reservoirs, for example, store four times the river's annual flow, but have still been substantially stressed during the region's ongoing drought. Reservoir reliability is defined as the fraction of time operational reservoir storage targets are met. Reservoir vulnerability is defined as the maximum departure from storage targets when an anomaly occurs. The photo shows the changes in Lake Powell behind Glen Canyon Dam over 5 yrs. https://lnkd.in/gX8Xr_fa The hydrologic situation is beginning to circle the drain.
Said Zeghiche
2mo
Climate change..
Creative Director/Design Director/ Brand Strategist/ Product Developer
2moCurious what the image looks like today. I'm in California and our reservoirs dropped quite low into 2022. But since then 2023 and 2024 have seen our lakes and reservoirs sit at really healthy levels. What is your opinion as to why they drop so low? Are you thinking it's climate? Poor retention capabilities? Allowing them to be depleted to water companies?