Low-inflow protocols

From Water Wiki

A protocol now included as part of many Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licensing proceedings, a low inflow protocol (LIP) provides trigger points and procedures for how the licensed project will be operated during periods of low inflow. This protocol is itself an interesting form of water allocation, in that it more or less explicitly states how the burdens of reduced water availability will be shared among the various users of a reservoir’s water supply.

Duke Energy and a group of water users in the Catawba Basin produced a very interesting low inflow protocol for that basin, in that the protocol includes shared triggers and responses for low flows among most of the major water users in the entire basin. The group's assessment of residential consumption during the 2007-2008 drought, the first use of the low inflow protocol, shows significant reductions in consumption.