Contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Department of the Interior, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute their endorsement by the United States Government. Likewise, the contents of this publication have not necessarily been verified by and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Brozos River Authority. All programs and information of the Texas Water Resources Institute are available to everyone without regard to race, ethnic origin, religion, sex, or age. Introduction Statement of the Problem Rapid population and economic growth combined with depleting groundwater reserves are resulting in ever increasing demands on surface water resources in Texas, as well as elsewhere. The climate of the state is characterized by extremes of floods and droughts.
Reservoirs are necessary to control and utilize the highly variable streamflow.
Due to a number of economic, environmental, institutional, and political considerations, construction of new reservoir projects is much more difficult now than in the past. Consequently, optimizing the beneficial use of existing reservoirs is becoming increasingly more important. Reservoir operation is based on the conflicting objectives of maximizing the amount of water available for conservation purposes and maximizing the amount of empty space available for storing future flood waters to reduce downstream damages. Common practice is to operate a reservoir for either flood control only, conservation only, or a combination of flood control and conservation with separate pools designated for each. Conservation pools may be shared by various purposes, such as water supply, hydroelectric power, and recreation, which involve both complementary and conflicting interactions.