peer review report 2 on economic effects of a reservoir re operation policy in the rio grande bravo for integrated human and environmental water management

OneangletoimproveonthiswouldbetodiscusshowtheproposedEFpolicycouldbeincorporatedintoanadaptive man-agementschemewherebytheenvironmentaleffectsoftheEFpolicyareanalyzedoveraspecifictimeperi

Studies

jou rn a l h om ep a ge :w w w e l s e v i e r c o m / l o c a t e / e j r h

Peer Review Report

Peer review report 2 on “Economic Effects of a Reservoir Re-operation Policy in the Rio Grande/Bravo for Integrated Human and

1 Original Submission

2 Comments to Author

DOI of the original article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2016.08.004

2214-5818/$ – see front matter

lookslike,andhowthebaselineandEFpoliciesdifferforthepast55years.Anotherusefulfigurecouldshowtheentire hydrographofdailyflows,withboththemonthlybaselineandEFflowvolumessuperimposedonthedailyhydrograph Thehydrographcanbeusedtoillustrateperiodsofflashflooding,andperiodsoflongdurationdamreleases,and/orfloods producedbytropicalstorms.Thereaderwouldthenbeinformedastohowthedailyhydrograph,andthedifferenthydrologic aspectsthatcomposethathydrographaretranslatedintomonthlyflowvolumesunderthebaselineandEFflowscenarios Thiscouldbeusedasamainfigurefortheresults

Additionally,theDiscussionislacking.TheDiscussionbrieflydescribestheresultsaspertainingtoeachindividual eco-nomicaspectunderconsideration.However,thereisnodiscussionregardingwhetherornottheproposedEFpolicywould actuallybesuccessfulatachievingwhatitwasdesignedtodo,whichisenvironmentalbased(accordingtoLaneetal.,2015) OneangletoimproveonthiswouldbetodiscusshowtheproposedEFpolicycouldbeincorporatedintoanadaptive man-agementschemewherebytheenvironmentaleffectsoftheEFpolicyareanalyzedoveraspecifictimeperiodtogagesuccess

ofthemeasures.TheEFsweredesignedbasedontheIHAmetricsproducedintheBBEST2012report,however,thereisquite

abitofuncertaintyregardingtheIHAmetricswithinthatreport.Thus,framingtheEFswithinanadaptivemanagement contextallowsfortherevisionoftheEFguidelineswhichhavepotentialfeedbacksintotheeconomics.Asitcurrentlyreads, themanuscriptistoodeterministic(i.e.IfEFsareimplemented,theenvironmentwillberehabilitated,andtheeconomics willgenerallyimprove).However,thereisnotalkabouthowthesemeasuresareuncertain,andhowthesethingsmay changeasmoreislearned,bothenvironmentallyandeconomically

Itisokifthisangleisnotpursued,however,thediscussionneedstobestrengthenedgiventhatthisproposedreservoir re-operationschemehasthepotentialtobeofimpactatthebinationallevel

SpecificComments:(note,Iamnotsureifthejournalrequireslinenumbering,butitisdifficulttocomment/editwithout them.Authorsshouldconsiderprovidinglinenumbersinnextsubmission)

Page2,line3:delete“nowadays”

Page2,middleparagraph:deletesemicolonaftertheword“activities”

Page3,1stfullparagraph:revisetoread“Third,floodmanagement,consideringtheprotectionofPresidioandOjinaga citesfromfloods”

Page4,1stparagraph:delete“therepetitionof”

Page5,endofSection2.1.1:considerrevisingtoread"(i.e.morewaterallocatedthanavailableforuse)"

Page5,2ndsentenceof2.1.2:Iamsurprisedthisnumberisnotlargerthan300,000

Page5,2ndsentanceof2.1.2:considerrevisingtoread"(NPS,2015);in2011,visitorsspentover16milliondollars” Page6,3rdsentenceof2.1.3:AttimestheRioConchoscansupplynearlyallofthetotalstreamflowtotheRGBbelowits confluence.Thissentenceshouldbeeditedreflectthis.Notsurewherethe20xfactorcamefrom

Page6,4thsentenceof2.1.3:considerrevisingtoread“Majorhistoricfloodshaveresultedfromextendedperiodsof steadyrainfallassociatedwithtropicalstormsandhurricanes,although "

Page7,2ndsentence:Thenativesilveryminnowpopulationhasnotonlybeendramaticallyreduced,butitwasactually extirpatedfromthereach.Thissentenceshouldbeeditedtoreflectextirpation,notsimplereduction.The2ndsentence

ofthefollowingparagraphshouldbeeditedtoread“Itsdisappearanceappearstoberelatedtochannelmodification " becausetheexactcausehasnotbeendetermined

Page7,4thsentenceofsameparagraph:revisetoread“Incontrast,tamariskandarundodonaxareinvasiveriparian plantsprevalentintheRGBthatcanreducewateravailabilityandquality,andmayoutcompetenativeriparianspecies undercertainhydrologicscenarios”.Therearehydrologicscenariosthatdiscouragetheproliferationofthesenon-native species

Page7,Deletelastsentencebefore“Rationale”:

Page7,3rdsentenceof“Rationale”:statethat“Someofthenegativeeffectscanpotentiallybereversed "andciteDean

etal.,2016attheendofsentence

Dean,D.J.,D.J.Topping,J.C.Schmidt,R.E.Griffiths,andT.A.Sabol(2016),Sedimentsupplyversuslocalhydraulic controls on sediment transport and storage in a river with largesediment loads, J Geophys Res Earth Surf., 121, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015JF003436

Page8,Methods:itseemsthattheMethodssectionincludesbothmethodsandresults.Considerreorganizingsuchthat theMethodsandResultsareseparatedintotheirownsections,orrevisetheheadingofSection3toincludebothMethods andResults

Page8,paragraphs1and2:Strikesmethatstatingthecostat$.108millionpermcmisastrangewaytopresenttheunits (millionpermillion?).Maybethisistheunitrequestedbyjournal,butconsiderrevisingto$108,000permcm

Page8,lastparagraph,2ndsentence:change“experience”to“experiences”

Equation1:Clarifyhowwaterdemandiscalculated

Page10,lastparagraph3.1:ThispointsbacktoexplaininghowtheEFsimpactthehydrograph,asIstateatthebeginningof thisreview.Inthisinstance,itappearsthatbaseflowswouldbereducedatcertaintimesoftheyear,whileintermediateflows wouldincreaseatothertimes.ThereaderneedstobeexplainedhowtheproposedEFsgenerallyimpactthehydrologyina moreclearandconcisemanner,aswellaswhatthegoalsoftheEFsarespecifically(e.g.highflowpulsesinlatesummer/fall

toconveysedimentandpreventchannelnarrowing,highflowsinspringtoqueuespawningofsilveryminnow,etc.) Page11,paragraphafterFig.4:Thelogarithmicrelationshouldbeincludedasafiguresothereadercanseetheshapeof thefunction,andfurtherunderstandthisrelation

Endofsameparagraph:Clarifypoint(3),undertheEFscenario,youstatetheprobabilityoffloodrelateddamagegoes down,however,thereareanumberoffloodeventsthatwillbegreaterthanthebaseline,potentiallyoffsettingsomeofthe costsavingsassociatedwiththelowerprobability

Page141stsentenceoflastparagraph:Idon’tunderstandthisfirstsentencebecauseagricultureisthelargestbenefactor

totheEFpolicy

Fig.3:Thesedatapointsarenotintrinsicallylinkedtoeachother,andtherefore,shouldbeplottedasascatterplot,not

asalineplot.Alinearregression,shouldthenbefittothe4datapoints

3.1 Recommendation

MinorRevision

ReviewofOrtiz-Partidaetal.‘EconomicEffectsofReservoirRe-operationPolicyintheRioGrande/BravoforIntegrated HumanandEnvironmentalWaterManagement’

DavidDean

April15,2016

GeneralComments:

Ortiz-Partidaetal.,madeasubstantialeffortatimprovingthemanuscriptreferencedabove.Theyhaveaddressedmost

ofmycommentssufficiently,andthenewrequestedfigureshavetheeffectthatIhadhoped.Ihadanumberofminoredits andcomments,thatarelistedbelow,andI’msuretheauthorscanaddressthesequickly.Basedonthesecomments,Iam recommendingminorrevisions

Page2,line2:insert“for”aftersearching

Page5,line23−(Eflowstnormat)shouldbe(Eflowstnormal)

Page6,Fig.3caption.Inthecaption,describethechangesthetakeplacebetweentheBaselineandEFpolicyinB.Tome,

itlooksincreasesinstoragearecapped,andreleasedasEFs,whichcausesthepurple“topofconservation”capacitylineto fluctuate.Pleaseeitherdescribeinthetext,orinthecaption

Also,IdonotseeFig.3referencedinthetext

Page8,lines4–9,floodingproxy??????

Page8,line22,edittoread,";eventhoughthecauseofitsextirpationhasnotbeendetermined,substantialgeomorphic changesoccurred,andkeyhabitatsofthesilveryminnowwerelost(DeanandSchmidt,2011)

Page11,line28.Is thisthe“raftable”streamflowlimit? Orthe“canoeable”streamflowlimit.The raftablelimitis considerablyhigherthanthecanoeablelimit

Page13,lines18–19,edittoread“Monthlyflowvolumesshowthatunderthebaselinepolicy, "

Page15,lines28–31.Increasedwateravailabilitywouldonlyoccurifnonnativesarekilled,andthosesurfacesremain bare.ThisisapossibilityundertheEFscenario,wherebyerosionmaycreateadditionalbaresubstrates.However,without sufficientflooddisturbance,anothertypeofvegetationislikelytorecolonizethosebaresurfaces,andwatersavingswould likelybenonexistentornegligible.Asentenceortwointhissection,orinthediscussion,wouldbehelpfultoclarifythese potentialdynamics

Page16,line14,“flood”shouldbe“floods”

Page17,line26,changerisingtoincreasing

Page18,line15.Change“dragging”to“adopting”orsomethingsimilar

Page18,lines25and26,change“down-ramp”to“flowrecession”

ResearchHydrologist DavidJ.Dean USGS,SBSCGCMRC,2255NGeminiDr,Flagstaff,AZ86001,UnitedStates