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The most important determinant in the design of management tools is the kind of output required to <br />make management decisions. For example, if the law states that water managers must account for the <br />effects of decisions on water quality, economics, and endangered species, a manager must have some <br />way to evaluate the impacts of those effects. <br />Through preliminary discussions with water users and environmental group leaders, literature review and <br />consultation with work groups and consultants, WRMI developed displays (charts, tables, graphs, check <br />lists, etc.) to reflect one or more of the multiple attributes needed to evaluate system performance. These <br />displays are called performance measures. Performance measures present information that is designed to <br />allow multidimensional comparative analysis of alternative water management regimes. They provide a <br />basis for choices to be made between two or more possible regimes, using either a long or short time <br />horizon. Thus, performance measures compare the long-term implications of various environmental <br />standards, facilities, or rule curve proposals. Similarly, they can compare alternative near-term operating <br />strategies, based upon current and projected conditions. Vital to the design of management tools, the <br />development of performance measures is the first task of the project. <br />To develop the working document, Consensus Project: Performance Measures Report , WRMI and NHI <br />first created an electronic slide show with numerous examples of possible performance measures. The <br />slide show was then presented to PAC and TAC members, as well as other individual water users to <br />generate feedback on the types of measures best suited for analysis of various management options. The <br />culmination of these preliminary interviews are documented in the performance measures working paper, <br />which is currently under review by the PAC and TAC. The working document contains a set of <br />measures that either portray water system performance or could act as surrogates for water system <br />performance from environmental, water user, and other perspectives. The document does not develop <br />consensus around specific performance measures, but presents a full range of possible measures. The <br />performance measures are divided into four categories: <br />Planning Performance Measures <br />? <br />Operations Performance Measures <br />? <br />Permitting Performance Measures <br />? <br />Regulation Performance Measures <br />? <br />Planning performance measures help evaluate the large scale, long-term (period of record) impacts of <br />new facilities, changes in water allocation, or changes in operating policy. In part because planning <br />deals with the long term, the evaluation of these measures will most often involve the use of a simulation <br />model, such as the USBR?s PROSIM or the Department of Water Resources? DWRSIM. These models <br />produce time series estimates of system performance; that is, output that traces how the water resources <br />system might change month by month (or other time step) for a long period. The hydrologic state <br />variables (storages and flows) from these models are the basis for most other performance measures, and <br />may serve as input to many other analytical tools. <br />Operations performance measures display the expected short-term (1 to 2 years) consequences of current, <br />large-scale operating rules and policies for the coming year. These performance measures are intended <br />to be used by all types of water users to schedule their own operations for the short-term. In addition, <br />operations performance measures provide advance warning of drought and surplus supplies. When they <br />show extraordinary conditions, these performance measures may also be used to trigger short-term <br />adjustments in operations. <br />4 <br />A275 01.09.95 1-19.2 Sheer <br />