Monitoring Reports

During periods of drought, the Cooperative Water Supply Operations on the Potomac (CO-OP) helps manage the Washington metropolitan area water supply system by coordinating withdrawals from the Potomac River and off-river reservoirs and recommending releases from upstream reservoirs when forecasted flow in the river is not sufficient to meet expected needs. These needs include water demands and an environmental flow-by of 100 million gallons per day (MGD) on the Potomac River at Little Falls dam near Washington, D.C.

DROUGHT EXERCISE - Afternoon simulated Potomac flow and demand update (Sunday 10/09/2020) - DROUGHT EXERCISE

Submitted by admin1 on Fri, 10/09/2020 - 14:00

There are no changes in requested SIMULATED operations this afternoon.

ACTUAL - Basin and system conditions:

Yesterday's basin-wide average precipitation (above Little Falls):
0.689 inches
(based on CO-OP's Low Flow Forecast System analysis of MARFC gridded quantitative precipitation estimates)

DROUGHT EXERCISE - Afternoon simulated Potomac flow and demand update (Saturday 10/08/2020) - DROUGHT EXERCISE

Submitted by admin1 on Thu, 10/08/2020 - 14:00

There are no changes in requested SIMULATED operations this afternoon.

ACTUAL - Basin and system conditions:

Yesterday's basin-wide average precipitation (above Little Falls):
0.052 inches
(based on CO-OP's Low Flow Forecast System analysis of MARFC gridded quantitative precipitation estimates)

DROUGHT EXERCISE - Afternoon simulated Potomac flow and demand update (Friday 10/07/2020) - DROUGHT EXERCISE

Submitted by admin1 on Wed, 10/07/2020 - 14:00

There are no changes in requested SIMULATED operations this afternoon.

ACTUAL - Basin and system conditions:

Yesterday's basin-wide average precipitation (above Little Falls):
0 inches
(based on CO-OP's Low Flow Forecast System analysis of MARFC gridded quantitative precipitation estimates)

DROUGHT EXERCISE - Afternoon simulated Potomac flow and demand update (Wednesday 10/05/2020) - DROUGHT EXERCISE

Submitted by admin1 on Mon, 10/05/2020 - 14:00

DROUGHT EXERCISE - Afternoon simulated Potomac flow and demand update (Wednesday 10/05/2020) - DROUGHT EXERCISE

Yesterday's basin-wide average precipitation (above Little Falls):
0 inches
(based on CO-OP's Low Flow Forecast System analysis of MARFC gridded quantitative precipitation estimates)

2019 Annual WMA Drought Exercise, Morning Potomac flow and demand update (Thursday 2019-11-21)

Submitted by admin1 on Thu, 11/21/2019 - 09:00

This is Day 2 of the annual Washington metropolitan area (WMA) drought exercise. The exercise scenario appears below. During the exercise, WMA water suppliers are sending data on withdrawals and reservoir levels twice daily, and ICPRB CO-OP staff are communicating via phone with supplier operations staff regarding requested operational changes.

EXERCISE SCENARIO

2019 Annual WMA Drought Exercise, Morning Potomac flow and demand update (Wednesday 2019-11-20)

Submitted by admin1 on Wed, 11/20/2019 - 09:00

This is Day 1 of the annual Washington metropolitan area (WMA) drought exercise, which will be conducted on Wednesday, Nov 20 and Thursday, Nov 21. The exercise scenario appears below. During the exercise, WMA water suppliers are sending data on withdrawals and reservoir levels twice daily, and ICPRB CO-OP staff are communicating via phone with supplier operations staff regarding requested operational changes.

EXERCISE SCENARIO

2019 Annual WMA Drought Exercise, Afternoon Potomac flow and demand update (Wednesday 2019-11-20)

Submitted by admin1 on Wed, 11/20/2019 - 09:00

NOTE: In our twice daily reports for the 2019 exercise we are reporting ACTUAL basin flows and system withdrawals, and SIMULATED recommended operations

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ACTUAL CONDITIONS REPORTED BELOW

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Daily Potomac flow and demand update (Wednesday 2019-10-23)

Submitted by admin1 on Wed, 10/23/2019 - 09:00

River flow at Point of Rocks has been above our drought monitoring trigger of 2000 cfs for the past two days, and the Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center's streamflow forecasts indicate that flows will remain above this level for the next week. Therefore, daily monitoring will be discontinued until further notice. Thank you all for your contributions to the monitoring effort!

Daily Potomac flow and demand update (Tuesday 2019-10-22)

Submitted by admin1 on Tue, 10/22/2019 - 09:00

No rain fell in the basin over the past 24 hours according to the Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center. Over the next 7 days, between 1 and 1.75 inches of rain are expected in the basin.

Flows have been fluctuating around 2000 cfs, the threshold for daily monitoring. Daily monitoring will be continued until flows are consistently above the 2000 cfs threshold.