Some reservoirs are operated to maximize water supplies during average years and others are operated for drought years or emergency storage purposes. Although the capital cost to construct a reservoir will be the same regardless of its operation, the cost of water supply will differ substantially among these operational modes. Of supply augmentation options, reservoirs are most likely to provide substantial benefits other than water supply, such as recreation, flood control, and power generation. No attempt is made in this Bulletin to allocate the costs among different purposes, because cost allocation goes beyond the Bulletin's appraisal-level scope of analysis. Water Marketing Water transfer costs shown in the Bulletin are generally those reported by local agencies for their proposed marketing arrangements.
Costs reported by local agencies are often the contractual prices contained in transfer agreements.
Such costs usually do not include environmental mitigation costs or costs relating to third-party impacts. This page was posted January 1999.