WSPC00985

• File Number: 8283.100
• Description: Colorado River Computer Models - Colorado River Simulation System - Reclamation - CORSIM
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 5/1/1985
• Author: DOI-BOR
• Title: CRSS - Colorado River Simulation System - System Overview
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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1.3 Past Studies
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CRSS has heen used for a number of specific studies in the past. The
major studies are listed below:

Westwide water studies

Upper Co'] orado Emer!]i ng Energy Technology studi es
lower Colorado Emerging Energy Technology studies

Quality of Water Progress Reports

. Colorado River Enhanced Snowpack Test (CREST)

Colorado River Alternativ2 Operating Strategies for Distributing
Surplus Water and Avoiding Spills

. 1984 Evaluation of Salinity Control Programs in the Colorado RiV2r
Basin

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. Western Area Power Admi ni strat i on Power Operat ions stud i es

Bureau of land Management oil shale development studies

Fish and Wildlife Service low streamflow studies

1.4 Brie~_Hi story of Deve!Qerne~

Pl anni ng and operat i on studi es on the Colorado Ri ver have been performed
for decades. Up until the early 1960's, these studies were performed
manually. In 1965, the fi rst computer model of the Colorado Ri ver, the
CRSP (Colorado River Storage Project) model, was completed. This first
model was used primarily to develop annual operating plans for the upper
basin reservoirs during the filling of lake Powell. Over the years, the
model was expanded to include the lower basin reservoirs, powerplants,
salinity, and some formal operating criteria. Drawbacks to the CRSP
model were that it could not model individual project effects on tribu-
taries, and it accounted for salinity using a crude procedure. Many of
the model i ng parameters were fi xed and were not eas i ly modifi ed, and the
model did not allow convenient or practical addition of new features or
parameters. '

A second model, the River Network Model, was written in 1973 to evaluate
the salinity impacts resulting from water resource developments and
salinity control projects and to aid in establishing salinity standards
for the Colorado Riv2r. The River Network Model was a simple flow and
salt routing model and did not include powerplant simulation, operating
strategies, or "law of the River."

The CRSM (Colorado River Simulation Model) was borne out of the need to
have a flexible, comprehensive river basin rnodel of the Colorado River

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