| Under present and projected future conditions of development of water resources in Texas, expanded management strategies and capabilities are very important for optimizing the present beneficial use of limited reservoir storage capacity for the varous purposes. At the same time, the numerous factors affecting reservoir operations are constantly changing. Therefore, operating procedures should be periodically evaluated and modified whenever changing conditions so warrant.;The generalized procedure for evaluating multipurpose reservoirs has a broad range of water management applications. However, this research developed the procedure specifically for, and applied to, the evaluation of proposed reallocations of storage capacity between flood control and municipal and industrial water supply purposes. The reallocation of storage capacity between flood control and conservation purposes is concluded to be a viable management strategy for optimizing the beneficial uses of existing reservoirs under changing conditions.;The purpose of this research is to delineate a procedure for evaluating multipurpose reservoir systems based on the concepts of risk and reliability. The described procedure is aimed to provide meaningful information for the decision making process and at the same time bridge the gap between the existing research and its application. Two research hypothesis which test, respectively, the technical feasibility and the usefulness of the proposed procedure, are presented in this research. The methodological approach includes three major sections: the development of a generalized procedure for analyzing multipurpose reservoir systems, the application of this procedure to a specific case study, and a survey of opinions directed to evaluate the usefulness of the generalized strategy as a tool in the decision making process related to water resources development in Texas. Waco Lake, the multipurpose reservoir located in Central Texas is used for the case study. |
