Reservoir Operations Improvement Act

Reservoir Operations Improvement Act

This bill directs the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to submit a report with respect to each drought state (a state for which the governor has declared a drought or that contains at least one county for which the Department of Agriculture has designated a drought disaster) during water year 2015 or 2016 that includes:

• a list of flood control projects in such state;
• the year during which the original water manual (water operations manuals, flood control rule curves, and water control manuals) for each project was approved;
• the years during which any revisions to a project's water manual occurred or are requested to occur;
• a list of projects for which operational deviations for drought contingency, and changes to storage allocations, have been requested and the status of such requests; and
• a description of the means by which water conservation and water quality improvements were addressed in any response to such requests.

The Corps of Engineers shall: (1) identify each project included in the report that includes a reservoir and for which a non-federal interest has submitted a written request to revise the project's water manual; (2) revise the water manuals of not more than 15 of such projects; and (3) in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, create a forecast-informed reservoir operations plan for each selected project. The water manual revision shall incorporate such plan, new watershed data, and the effects of any structural improvement completed after the date of the most recent prior revision of the water manual.

A revision of a water manual may not reduce the water supply for any authorized purpose, other than flood control, of a flood control project.