Accounting for Environmental and Life Safety Risks of Reservoir Releases in Regulated Watersheds: Reservoir and Land Management

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Reservoir outflows and dam failures pose significant flood risks with related downstream economic and life safety impacts. The artificial lakes formed and extreme or regulated river flows induced by such systems may cause irreversible environmental damage and threaten aquatic ecosystems. Land use practices in the surrounding region may exacerbate such risks through their effects on watershed hydrology and settlement patterns, and the release of non-point source pollutants. Given the potential for severe consequences, methods that provide rational and transparent bases for assessing such risks in the face of climate change and other uncertainties, and accounting for them in reservoir operating and watershed management decisions are needed. This project: i) advances water quality models for identifying downstream environmental impacts and their interactions with fish populations and habitat, of reservoir outflows, and develops measures for estimating the risk of such consequences; ii) develops a reservoir operating decision-making framework that considers environmental, fisheries, and life safety risks in the face of climate and land use change; and iii) develops methods that account for uncertainty in estimating the environmental and flooding consequences of land uses. The models and methods developed will be designed to identify the degree of exposure to the risks, characterize the ability of a system to recover from them in the short- or long-term, signal when the consequences may be irreversible and account for changes in precipitation patterns and land use practices. They may be used to support the planning and operation of reservoir systems and regional participatory water use planning processes. The findings will be of direct benefit to power and water utilities in managing their risk portfolio and maintaining their permission to operate and to regional water use managers and communities as they evaluate tradeoffs between the benefits of the various water and land uses and the cost of water shortages, environmental damage, and changes in system hydrology. They will enhance responsible management of large assets and improve public safety and environmental quality. These are ongoing priorities for all levels of government in Canada. **