Development of a Data-Driven Hydrologic Tool for Restoration Flow Release Planning

The San Joaquin River Restoration Program (SJRRP) is a long-term effort to restore fish populations to the river. An important component of the SJRRP is the role of the Restoration Administrator (RA), who is tasked with recommending releases from Friant Dam to best restore fish populations. Determining how best to manage water volumes allocated to the river under the terms of the Settlement Agreement requires real-time understanding of key data on system hydrology. We have developed an interactive Flow Management Tool (FMT) for flow recommendation scenario planning and evaluation to facilitate use by the RA and expand access to resource agencies and stakeholders. The FMT supports rapid decision-making to optimize the releases for salmon, riparian vegetation, and other ecosystem functions, and for compliance with the legal requirements of the SJRRP.  The FMT integrates 1) real-time flow and water temperature data, 2) runoff forecasts, and 3) historical and modeled flow magnitude, flow routing, and water temperature predictions. Key benefits of the tool include automatic updating of gage data, flexibility in runoff forecast input data, an intuitive user interface allowing tracking of remaining restoration flow allocations, and a graphical display of downstream flows and water temperatures.