Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations
FIRO is a reservoir-operations strategy that better informs decisions to retain or release water by integrating additional flexibility in operation policies and rules with enhanced monitoring and improved weather and water forecasts (American Meteorological Society; 2020).
FIRO is being developed and tested as a collaborative effort in the Russian River Basin (Lake Mendocino), the Santa Ana River Basin (Prado Dam), and the Yuba-Feather River Basins that engages experts and stakeholders in civil engineering, hydrology, meteorology, biology, economics and climate from several federal, state and local, universities and others. There is significant interest and support for developing FIRO at other appropriate locations in the Western U.S. and elsewhere.
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Steering Committee Don Seymour (Sonoma Water) John James (Yuba Water) John Leahigh (California Department of Water Resources) Greg Woodside (Orange County Water Distrcit) F. Martin Ralph (Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at Scripps Institution of Oceanography) Cary Talbot (US Army Corps of Engineers) |
Ninth Annual Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO) Workshop Presentations August 2-4, 2022 La Jolla, CA Question and Answer Transcript Tuesday, August 2nd 2022 Keynote Speaker: Karla Nemeth, Director, California Department of Water Resources FIRO Project Updates Moderator: Duncan Axisa, CW3E Russian River–Don Seymour, Sonoma Water Prado Dam–Greg Woodside, Orange County Water District Yuba-Feather–John James, Yuba Water; John Leahigh, CA DWR Howard Hanson–Kevin Shaffer, USACE; Greg Volkhardt, Tacoma Water Applying Climate Change Science to FIRO Moderator: Mike DeFlorio, CW3E Scott Steinschneider, Cornell University Panelists: Mike Dettinger, CW3E; Karla Nemeth, CA DWR; John Leahigh, CA DWR; Sean Smith, USACE Wednesday, August 3rd 2022 Keynote Speaker: Sean Smith, USACE, Principal H&H and Coastal Community of Practice Leader Integration of FIRO and Water Control Plans Moderator: Elissa Yeates, USACE Adaptive WCM Concepts – Rob Hartman, RK Hartman Consulting Fundamentals of Integrating FIRO into WCMs – Joe Forbis, USACE Yuba Feather WCM Update – Jennifer Fromm, USACE Lake Mendocino WCM Update – Nicholas Malasavage, USACE Decision Support Tools Needed for FIRO Integration – Chris Delaney, CW3E FIRO Screening Process Moderator: Elissa Yeates, USACE Panelists: Angela Hogan, USACE Los Angeles District; Jenny Fromm, USACE Sacramento District; Patrick Sing, USACE San Francisco District; Nabil Shafike, USACE Albuquerque District Reducing Precipitation Forecast Uncertainty – Progress and Future Directions Moderator: Jason Cordeira, CW3E Summary of “A Report on Priorities for Weather Research (2021)”–Marty Ralph, CW3E CW3E’s Forecast Verification Program–Rachel Weihs, CW3E Improving Inflow Forecasts – Progress on Hydrologic Forecasting Moderator: Alan Haynes, NOAA NWS CNRFC National Water Model – Ed Clark, NOAA National Water Center GSSHA – Steve Turnbull, USACE ERDC Thursday, August 4th 2022 Keynote Speaker: Steven LaMar, Board of Directors and Past President, Assoc. of CA Water Agencies and Director, Irvine Ranch Water District FloodMAR + FIRO = FIROMAR: What are the Integration Opportunities? Moderator: Adam Hutchinson, Orange County Water District FIRO and AR Program Perspective–Mike Anderson, CA DWR Merced Flood–David Arrate, CA DWR San Joaquin Basin Watershed Studies –Jim Wieking, CA DWR FIRO Screening Process Moderator: Arleen O’Donnell, ERG/CW3E Panelists: Marty Ralph, CW3E; Don Seymour, Sonoma Water; Greg Woodside, Orange County Water District; John James, Yuba Water; John Leahigh, CA DWR; Greg Volkhardt, Tacoma Water; Cary Talbot, USACE ERDC; Mike Anderson, CA DWR
FIRO Workshop Steering Committee Marty Ralph, Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Cary Talbot, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center Don Seymour, Sonoma Water Greg Woodside, Orange County Water District John James, Yuba Water Agency John Leahigh, California Department of Water Resources Dustin Jones, California Department of Water Resources |
