Improved water resources sustainability utilizing multi-time scale streamflow forecasts

North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC

Investigators

Abstract

0756269 Arumugam This project has three major objectives. The first is to develop an integrated approach to promote sustainable management of water supply systems through combined application of both weather information-based near-term streamflow forecasts and climate-based short-term streamflow forecasts. For this first objective, water management measures will be invoked that include water conservation and hedging, water contracts for improving water-use efficiency, in-stream and ecological flow protection and alternative water management plans including wastewater reuse. The second major objective is to apply and demonstrate the approach for two water supply systems, one serving an area experiencing rapid increase in water demand in North Carolina, and another aimed at maximizing hydropower production and preserving ecological flows in Virginia. The third major objective is to develop an instructional tool for assessing the role of proactive water management measures and multi-time scale forecasts to promote sustainable water management and to incorporate it in undergraduate/graduate curricula at several universities. An educational outreach effort will inculcate dynamic risk management and sustainability concepts in water and environmental curricula at two major historically black colleges in North Carolina.