Environmental Flows in a Human‐Dominated System: Integrated Water Management Strategies for the Rio Grande/Bravo Basin

Water management in the transboundary Rio Grande/Bravo (RGB) Basin, shared by the US and Mexico, is complicated by extreme hydrologic variability, overallocation, and international treaty obligations. Heavy regulation of the RGB has degraded binationally protected ecosystems along the Big Bend Reach of the RGB. This study addresses the need for integrated water management in Big Bend by developing an alternative reservoir operation policy to provide environmental flows while reducing water management trade‐offs. A reach‐scale water planning model was used to represent historical hydrology (1955–2009), water allocation, and reservoir operations, and key human water management objectives (water supply, flood control, and binational treaty obligations) were quantified. Spatially distributed environmental flow objectives and an alternative reservoir rule curve were developed. We simulated current and alternative water management policies and used an iterative simulation–evaluation process to evaluate alternative policies based on water system performance criteria with respect to specified objectives. A single optimal policy was identified that maximized environmental flows while maintaining specified human objectives. By changing the timing but not the volume of releases, the proposed reservoir re‐operation policy has the potential to sustain key ecological and geomorphic functions in Big Bend without significantly impacting current water management objectives. The proposed policy also improved water supply provisions, reduced average annual flood risk, and maintained historical treaty provisions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.