Network Models of Water Rights and System Operations

Abstract

A raw water supply Master Plan has been prepared for the City of Boulder, Colorado. The city's portfolio of water rights includes decrees for native water from Boulder Creek and shares in two large transbasin diversion projects. The supply system is operated to meet municipal and industrial demands, provide minimum streamflows for Boulder Creek, and generate revenues from hydroelectric turbines installed in raw‐ and treated‐water transmission lines. The Master Plan was developed with the use of three applications of the Central Resource Allocation Model, a microcomputer‐based network‐optimization tool, which uses the Out‐of‐ Kilter Algorithm. The three applications addressed the yield of the city's native water rights, the yield of its transbasin diversion project holdings, and the economic operation of its water delivery system to meet future demands. The Master Plan recommends modifications to certain operating policies, enlargement of some delivery and treatment facilities, and sale or lease of one of the transbasin water sources.