Fraser river extended streamflow prediction system

The Municipal Subdistrict of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (Subdistrict) operates the Windy Gap Project that diverts water from the Colorado River to municipal water users on the Northern Front Range of Colorado. A majority of the water diverted by the Windy Gap Project is derived from the Fraser River which is a tributary of the Colorado River. The water is pumped from a forebay reservoir located on the Colorado River, near the confluence with the Fraser River, through a six mile pipeline to Lake Granby. Stream flow forecasts are vital to this Project due to the intensive pumping energy required and the timing of upstream water diversions by senior water rights. In order to optimize the energy intensive water pumping, the Subdistrict implemented the RiverTrak® hydrologic modeling application (Riverside Technology, inc.) to perform extended runoff predictions of the Subdistrict's allocation of the Fraser River. The RiverTrak® software employs snow and soil moisture accounting models, initialized to current conditions and driven by historic climatologic inputs, to predict the runoff generated in the Fraser river basin. The Subdistrict uses these probabilistic predictions to help manage an optimal pumping schedule.