Bureau of Reclamation Grant: Integrating Improved Water Supply Predictive Capacity in Lower Colorado Basin

This project further develops research partnerships and extends four prior years of work on a multi-pronged approach to preparing for and responding to variable Colorado River supply reliability in the Lower Basin. General areas of work include: a) demonstrating potential strategies for enhanced use of climate information in Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) river system modeling and river operations including use of paleoclimatology, climate forecasts and climate change predictions to improve predictive capacity/reduce system vulnerability for the Colorado River system broadly, with particular focus on the Lower Basin and the Central Arizona Project; b) evaluating specific management tools designed to translate improved predictive capacity into enhanced supply reliability for water users, including voluntary transactional tools that can be used by federal and state agencies, municipalities, irrigation districts, tribes, NGOs and other stakeholders; and c) engaging with other research groups and key stakeholders to tailor research foci, approaches and findings for applications of interest to Reclamation.