From the U.S. Army Engineer Research And Development Center – A new report evaluating a pilot program to use advanced weather and streamflow forecasts to enhance water storage capabilities at a Riverside County, California, dam found that enough water could be conserved to supply an additional 60,000 people per year.

The pilot program, called Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO), led by research meteorologists from the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, found that 7,000 acre-feet per year of stormwater could potentially be added to groundwater recharge in Orange County. One acre-foot is equivalent to about 325,000 gallons. The program was supported by a combination of funds from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Orange County Water District, and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR).