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<br />001S45 <br /> <br />COWRISM: A PROGRAM FOR SIMULATING <br />RESERVOIR IMPACTS UPON RECREATIONAL WATER USE <br /> <br />The creation and operation of surface-water impoundments on flow- <br /> <br />ing streams inevitably alter downstream flows and thus affect down- <br /> <br />stream water users. Planning for the development and operation of stor- <br /> <br />age reservoirs has focused conventionally upon consumptive use of the <br /> <br />stored water, whether withdrawn at or below the storage site, and upon <br /> <br />those non-consumptive uses, such as reservoir-based recreation, which <br /> <br />occur at the storage site. <br /> <br />Considerable attention has been given recently to downstream non- <br /> <br />consumptive, or instream uses. However, most of this attention has been <br /> <br />from a hydrological and/or biological perspective and has been concerned <br /> <br />almost entirely with changes in the aquatic ecosystem. This work does <br /> <br />not really corne to grips with resultant changes in water use by recrea- <br /> <br />tionists and others whose use patterns, while possibly affecting aquatic <br /> <br />ecosystems, do not result in significant consumptive water use. <br /> <br />Water resources planning cannot stop with the ecological conse- <br /> <br />quences of stream flow changes. It must carry these changes through to <br /> <br />their socio-economic implications. We must be able to project how down- <br /> <br />stream water users will be affected by a proposed operating rule for a <br /> <br />new or existing impoundment. To make such projections, however, requires <br /> <br />modelling user behavior (demand) as well as changes in the resource base <br /> <br />(supply), and this raises new analytical and data problems. <br /> <br />In particular, ecological studies can be confined to hydrologic <br /> <br />units, such as river basins (unless transbasin diversions are in pros- <br /> <br />pect and/or ecological changes beyond those of the aquatic ecosystem are <br /> <br />likely to be significant). Human beings, however, range widely across <br /> <br />1 <br />