Situational Awareness (Tuesday, 2023-11-07)
According to the Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center predictions, there will be no rain in the forecast over the next three days. The week-long outlook expects approximately 0.3 inches of rain in the basin.
The National Park Service has a contractor that will be performing bathymetric surveys and terrestrial lidar surveys at Potomac Dam No. 4 in Washington County, MD –today (Tuesday, November 7, 2023). During this time, the hydroelectric operator – Eagle Creek will be diverting water off of the run-of-river dam crest through the turbines. These dam and hydroelectric activities are observed at the Shepherdstown, WV, gage (USGS Station 01618000) and have a delayed effect downstream at the Potomac River at Point of Rocks, MD, gage (USGS Station 01638500).
Recent basin-wide average precipitation (above Little Falls):
(based on CO-OP's Low Flow Forecast System analysis of Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center (MARFC) gridded multisensor precipitation estimates)
Yesterday's area-weighted average basin precipitation: 0 (inches)
Past 3-day cumulative area-weighted average basin precipitation: 0 (inches)
Past 7-day cumulative area-weighted average basin precipitation: 0.02 (inches)
Daily flows:
Little Falls gage flow 2023-11-06: 659 MGD (1020 cfs)
Little Falls gage flow 2023-11-07: 552 MGD (est., based on recently available real-time data) (854 cfs)
Note: Gage flow at Little Falls is measured after water supply withdrawals.
Point of Rocks flow 2023-11-06: 659 MGD (1020 cfs)
Point of Rocks flow 2023-11-07: 666 MGD (est., based on recently available real-time data) (1030 cfs)
Yesterday's estimated daily flows:
Great Falls estimated flow 2023-11-06: 659 MGD (1020 cfs)
Note: Estimated as gage flow at Little Falls plus Little Falls water supply withdrawal.
Yesterday's Washington metropolitan area Potomac River withdrawals and discharges (2023-11-06):
Fairfax Water Corbalis withdrawal - Potomac: 77 MGD
WSSC Water Potomac withdrawal: 144 MGD
Washington Aqueduct withdrawal - Great Falls: 110 MGD
Washington Aqueduct withdrawal - Little Falls: 0 MGD
Loudoun Water withdrawal: 5 MGD
Loudoun Water Broad Run discharge: 6 MGD
Total Potomac withdrawal: 336 MGD
Total net Potomac withdrawal: 330 MGD
Loudoun Water Potomac River (PR) flow values for drought operations protocol (based on yesterday's flows):
QPR: 1020 cfs
QPR, obs: 1020 cfs
QPR, WS: 0 cfs
Note to Loudoun Water: See NWS ensemble flow forecasts (HEFS, GEFS, NAEFS) for Point of Rocks flow for the next 7 days – see https://www.weather.gov/erh/mmefs_marfc?id=PORM2&model=NAEFS; See US Army Corps of Engineers Potomac River Basin page for observed releases from Savage and Jennings Randolph reservoirs - see https://www.nab-wc.usace.army.mil/nab/poto.html; See Us Army Corps of Engineers North Branch Potomac River and Savage River page for scheduled releases - see https://www.nab-wc.usace.army.mil/nab/northBranch.html.
Note: Potomac River flow at Point of Rocks has dropped below the low-flow threshold of 2,000 cfs. When this occurs, per the Water Supply Coordination Agreement of 1982, CO-OP begins daily monitoring and reporting of Potomac flows and withdrawals on behalf of the CO-OP suppliers, Fairfax Water, Washington Aqueduct, and WSSC Water. Suppliers can review data at CO-OP's Data Portal at www.icprbcoop.org. Reports formatted in approved templates should be submitted by email to coop@icprb.org by 8:00 am for automated processing. Published monitoring reports are at http://icprbcoop.org/products/monitoring-reports.