Read actual daily streamflow evidence
Audit USGS dates, discharge units, daily means and source qualifiers.
Learning outcome: Convert a reported daily mean into bin volume without inferring peaks or available withdrawals.
Starting recap
Site 01646500 uses discharge parameter 00060, daily-mean statistic 00003 and station-date labels.
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Try
January 1: 8930 ft3/s times 86400 s gives 771552000 ft3, about 21.85 million m3.
Open the experimentPredict
Does a daily mean tell us the largest instantaneous flow?
Experiment
Inspect the fixed seven-day source panel, draw a dated plot and calculate one bin volume on paper.
Allocate a bounded reservoir under stress
Fictional water-allocation policy · separate observed river record · Original fictional reservoir, capacity 100 m³ and initial storage 40 m³. Each daily bin receives all its supplied inflow, spills above capacity, prioritizes the requested downstream release, then supplies service demand from remaining water. No evaporation, groundwater, within-day hydraulics or forecast. Release targets are policy assumptions, not ecological adequacy thresholds. Unmet requests are not water fluxes. This model is not calibrated to the separate USGS river record.
Reset keeps your prediction, captures and practice history.
One reservoir, two requests and a fixed order
Regular inflow; service request 20 m³/day. This fictional store starts with 40 m³ and holds at most 100 m³. The requested controlled downstream release is 5 m³/day. The service request is 20 m³/day. These are supplied teaching conditions, not a real reservoir forecast or recommended ecological flow.
Predict before comparing: if you increase the release request under the same inflow scenario, what happens to service and storage? Treat your preferred allocation as a stated choice; the arithmetic does not decide whose needs should take priority.
- Receive the whole day's supplied inflow into the starting store.
- Spill any volume above 100 m³ before either requested allocation.
- Prioritize controlled downstream release, capped by the water available.
- Supply school/community service from the remaining water; retain the remainder for the next day.
This daily event order is a policy and timing assumption. It does not resolve within-day hydraulics. Changing the order could change spill or service. Evaporation, groundwater exchange and other losses are omitted.
Close the water ledger
Across seven days: 40 initial + 140 inflow = 0 spill + 35 controlled release + 140 service supplied + 5 final storage, all in m³. Balance residual: 0 m³.
Spill and controlled release both leave the store, but their timing and consequences need not be equivalent. More released water is not, by itself, evidence that ecological needs are met. Unmet requests are comparisons against a target, not additional water leaving the store.
| Day | Start | Inflow | Before spill | Spill | After spill | Controlled release | After release | Service supplied | End | Balance residual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | 20 | 60 | 0 | 60 | 5 | 55 | 20 | 35 | 0 |
| 2 | 35 | 20 | 55 | 0 | 55 | 5 | 50 | 20 | 30 | 0 |
| 3 | 30 | 20 | 50 | 0 | 50 | 5 | 45 | 20 | 25 | 0 |
| 4 | 25 | 20 | 45 | 0 | 45 | 5 | 40 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
| 5 | 20 | 20 | 40 | 0 | 40 | 5 | 35 | 20 | 15 | 0 |
| 6 | 15 | 20 | 35 | 0 | 35 | 5 | 30 | 20 | 10 | 0 |
| 7 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 0 | 30 | 5 | 25 | 20 | 5 | 0 |
Keep requests visible when water runs short
| Day | Release requested | Release actual | Release shortfall | Service requested | Service supplied | Unmet service |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
| 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
| 3 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
| 4 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
| 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
| 6 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 20 | 20 | 0 |
| Seven-day totals | 35 | 35 | 0 | 140 | 140 | 0 |
Check a matched comparison and a timing counterexample
Worked comparison, separate from the current selection: under regular inflow, requesting 5 m³/day releases 35 m³, supplies all 140 m³ of service and leaves 5 m³. Requesting 10 m³/day releases 70 m³, supplies 110 m³ of service and leaves zero; unmet service rises to 30 m³. One reported indicator improves while another worsens. Choosing between these cases needs objectives and evidence beyond this ledger.
For the pulse case, day one begins with 40 m³ and receives 80 m³. The resulting 120 m³ exceeds capacity, so 20 m³ spills before allocations. Supplying service first would be a different timing model. Do not interpret the daily snapshot line as evidence that this pulse arrives gradually.
Transfer: keep the requested release at 5 m³/day and compare regular inflow with dry stress, then with higher service demand. Identify which input changed, show the complete water balance, and state one additional observation needed before proposing a real intervention. The separate USGS streamflow record is an observation audit; it does not calibrate these inputs or establish permitted withdrawals.
Final storage 5 m³; service supplied 140 of 140 m³ requested; unmet service 0 m³.
40 + 140 inflow = 0 spill + 35 controlled release + 140 service + 5 storage (m³). Requested controlled release 35 m³; release shortfall 0 m³. Priority and daily event order are assumptions, not a claim about the best policy.
Captures preserve recipes and replay their calculated results. They are synthetic model evidence, not physical measurements.
Understand
Apply
Public practice checks a specific claim. It does not establish independent mastery.
Explain why the real river record is independent of the fictional reservoir controls.
Continue
Completion requires a saved prediction, at least one capture and a reflection. Presence checks do not grade your reasoning.
Skipping retains experiments and awards no mastery.
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