Technical Considerations for Alamo Lake Operation

This study evaluates polices for operating Alamo Lake in Arizona for the Los Angeles District Corps of Engineers. The analyses specifically addresses three questions of interest to the District: (1) can Alamo Lake be operated to protect against bald eagle nest inundation and if so, what are the down...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kirby, Ken, Burnham, Michael W
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
ALAMO LAKE
ARIZONA
BALD EAGLE NESTING
BILL WILLIAMS RIVER CORRIDOR
Computer Programming and Software
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DAMS
ENDANGERED SPECIES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
FLOODS
Hydrology, Limnology and Potamology
LAKES
MAINTENANCE DRAW-DOWN
OPTIMIZATION
RESERVOIR OPERATIONS
RESERVOIRS
RIGIDITY
WATER POLLUTION
Water Pollution and Control
WATER QUALITY
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Summary:This study evaluates polices for operating Alamo Lake in Arizona for the Los Angeles District Corps of Engineers. The analyses specifically addresses three questions of interest to the District: (1) can Alamo Lake be operated to protect against bald eagle nest inundation and if so, what are the downstream impacts; (2) can different drawn-down schemes for required dam maintenance improve the conflicting conditions; and (3) can the operation plan recommended by the Bill Williams River Corridor Technical Committee by improved? Results from a combined approach using an optimization (HEC-PRM) and simulation model of the Alamo system confirmed that the proposed operating rule performs very well. Significant Improvements to operation using a flexible drawn-down scheme instead of a rigid schedule can be obtained. The chance of inundation of eagle nest inundation can be reduced from 18 to 5 percent in a year by a different operation strategy but at a significant impact to other endangered species in the downstream riverine corridor.