ABSTRACT
Lakes and reservoirs are important freshwater resources for human use, e.g., flood control, water supplies to agriculture and municipalities, fish and wildlife management, endangered species, recreation, hydropower generation, transportation, low-flow augmentation and in-stream users. Water conflicts become acute during droughts and managers responsible for lake operations need a detailed water budget to explore potential lake release policies. Ensuring sustainable water allocation to all stake-holders requires an understanding of the hydrologic budget. Lake water budgets provide quantitative estimates of hydrologic cycles and allow prediction of the effects of natural-induced changes or human-induced changes in the hydrologic cycle and lake supplies to users. The methodology presented has obvious relevance for sustainable management of lake water resources with respect to both future climate change and burgeoning human needs due to population growth in the region. Climate changes could pose serious threats to the lake water resources.
