ABSTRACT
The efficient development and control of water utilization schemes requires a delicate balance between physical hydrology, human demands, economic and technical feasibility and environmental impact. Stream flow modelling may be used in real-time mode for operating flood control or river regulation schemes, or it may be used in the design process to determine the size of reservoirs from the probabilities of floods and droughts, and to devise 'operating rules' for the dams. The main aim is to provide water for the states west of the Mississippi, particularly states suffering from the inadequacy of supplies from the Colorado River or from the rivers and aquifers of the Great Plains. But Canada is not persuaded and has since identified its own requirements for the runoff from the Arctic and Rocky Mountain drainage basins for water supply, especially for prairie agriculture, for hydropower and for environmental protection in the Mackenzie basin.
