Professor听Rajagopalan Balaji
The University of Colorado Boulder has earned a major grant to boost drought monitoring and prediction on the Colorado River.
The $750,000 award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences on campus and the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (CEAE) is part of being distributed nationally by the Biden-Harris Administration to help western communities better prepare for droughts.听
The project, 鈥淚mproving Hydroclimate Forecasts by Multi-Model Combination Approaches for Enhanced Reservoir Operations on the Colorado River,鈥� aims to develop models that will help water managers and stakeholders enhance the reliability of water supply in the Colorado River Basin. CEAE Professor Rajagopalan Balaji, who is also a CIRES fellow, serves as the principal investigator of the project.
Balaji said the Colorado River鈥檚 water supply, the "lifeblood of the southwestern U.S. socio-economy," has been under severe stress since 2000 due to streamflow reduction from the Millennium Drought and increasing demand.
鈥淭he lack of skillful streamflow forecasts beyond a season has likely contributed to suboptimal water management during this prolonged dry period, exacerbating the water supply stress,鈥� he said. 鈥淒eveloping a skillful streamflow forecasting system is crucial for enabling efficient water resource management and ensuring a sustainable and reliable water supply in the river basin.鈥�
The CEAE-led project will develop new Colorado River Basin streamflow forecast models at 0-24 months lead time. The project will use NOAA鈥檚 advanced seasonal prediction systems and new machine learning techniques to improve lead predictions key to water management in the Basin. In addition, the forecasts will be used in the Colorado River Basin Operational Prediction Testbed and with stakeholder engagement to enable efficient water resources decisions.听
Additional collaborators on the project include the , , , the and the .