Colorado River Basin Accounts: Provoke discussion about more adaptive operations

1. Excel Model File - ColoradoRiverBasinAccounts.xlsx. Basin Accounts Tool. Move into Google Sheets and follow Facilitation Directions (below). Or open ReadMe-Directions Worksheet.
2. Lets Start - ColoradoRiverBasinAccounts-LetsStart.pdf. Visual directions.
3. Model Guide - Online help file that provides context and explanations for each spreadsheet row.
4. Manuscript - 3-LessonsUseGoogleSheetsZoomToDiscussMoreFlexibleSustainableColoradoRiverOperations.docx. Write up for publication as a journal article. Cite-able version at https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cee_facpub/3778/.
5. readme.md - Requirements, facilitation directions, publications, file contents, and more (this file).

Overview

The purpose of this activity is to discuss more adaptive Colorado River operations than existing operations that equalize reservoirs and expire in 2026. To provoke discussion, download the Excel Model File (ColoradoRiverBasinAccounts.xlsx), move to Google Sheets, and invite participants. There are accounts for the Upper Basin, Lower Basin, Mexico, Colorado River Delta, First Nations, and a shared reserve. Over one or more years, participants consume, save, and trade water in the accounts, protect reservoirs, and sustain endangered, native fish of the Grand Canyon. Read on for directions to use.

Rquirements

Facilitator: 1 person to setup in Google Sheets (see Setup below), invite participants, and organize play.

Number of People: 2 or more (facilitator may also participate).

Time: 1 to 3 hours.

Software: Facilitator has a Google Account.

Facilitation Directions

Setup

1. Download the file ColoradoRiverBasinAccounts.xlsx to your computer.

2. Move the Excel file to your Google Drive. Open as a Google Sheet.

3. Open the Versions Worksheet to see updates.

4. Duplicate the Master Worksheet to save a blank version for later use.

5. Invite 1 or more other people to join the Google Sheet.

6. In the upper right of the Google Sheet, click the Share button.

7. Add emails, and set permissions so players can access the Google Sheet. Or copy and share the sheet's URL.

Use

1. On the Master Worksheet, scroll down Column A. Participants enter values in rows with 🟦 Blue text.

2. For example, in Rows 4-10, particants select a Account and enter a Strategy. If fewer than 6 participants, participants select multiple parties.

3. Enter the Lake Powell natural flow for Year 1 in 🟩 Cell C28. Cells below will populate.

4. Participants continue to enter values in Year 1 (Column C) down to Row 142 in row blocks with 🟦 Blue text.

5. Move to Year 2 (Column D). Enter Lake Powell natural flow in 🟩 Cell D28.

6. Find linked help for each row in 🟨 Column N.

7. View the Master-Plots worksheet to compare entries to current operations (Law of River).

8. ReadMe-Directions Worksheet also has these directions and describes all worksheets in the Workbook.

Publications

1. Rosenberg, D. E. (Submitted). "Lessons from using Google Sheets and Zoom to discuss more adaptive operations with Colorado River managers and experts." (.docx file).
2. Rosenberg, D. E. (In press). "Adapt Lake Mead releases to inflow to give managers more flexibility to slow reservoir draw down." Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management.
3. Rosenberg, D. E. (2022). "Invest in Farm Water Conservation to Curtail Buy and Dry." Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. 148(8) 01822001.
4. Wang, J., and Rosenberg, D. E. (Submitted). "Living within our Means: Adapting Colorado River Basin depletions to available water." Submitted to Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management.
5. Wang, J., Rosenberg, D. E., Schmidt, J. C., and Wheeler, K. G. (2020). "Managing the Colorado River for an Uncertain Future." Center for Colorado River Studies, Utah State University, Logan, Utah.

Donate to Support this Work

Make a tax deductible gift -- for as little as $5 -- to Utah State University (USU) to support new Colorado River work:

1. Goto USU Gift Webform.
2. Set the box Designation to Other.
3. In the Gift Instructions box enter for David Rosenberg – Colorado River.
4. Enter your contact information.

All donors will be added to an email list and receive periodic updates.

Support Folder Contents

1. Hydrology - Excel files used to generate scenarios on HydrologicScenarios Worksheet. CRB_29gages.xlsx: Gages in the Colorado River basin used to estimate natural flow. NaturalFlows1906-2018_20200110.xlsx: Natural flow hydrology downloaded from the USBR website and modified to pick out particular 10- and 20- year sequences of flows from the observed and paleo reconstructed records.
2. HydroShareSpecific - This readme.md file.
3. InflowSplit - R code to generate figure in manuscript that shows split of inflow amoung accounts.
4. LetsStart - Source powerpoint file for pdf file of Lets Start (visual directions).
5. ModelGuide - Files to create the Model Guide.
6. OldVersions - Older versions of the Flex accounting tool (see Versions Worksheet).
7. ParticipantAnalysis - Files to analyze one session.
8. ParticipantChoosePowellNaturalFlow - Files to produce the plot in the manuscript that shows how participants choose Lake Powell natural inflow.

Working Version of Repository

https://github.com/dzeke/ColoradoRiverCoding/tree/main/ModelMusings.

License

BSD-3-Clause (https://github.com/dzeke/ColoradoRiverCoding/blob/main/LICENSE). Available to use, modify, distribute, etc. for free. All modified or derivative products must use the same BSD-3-Clause license. This license keeps this work in the public domain forever.