Joint Operation of Reservoirs on Upper Yangtze River Facing new challenges

Suffering strong El Nino, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River experienced extreme rainfall anomalies during the Bai-U rainy period (19th Jun. to 20th Jul.) in 2016. The 21 reservoirs including Three Gorges reservoir in upper Yangtze River were operated together to control flood. Most of these reservoirs are distributed on Jinsha River, Ya-lung River, Min River, Chia-ling River, and Wu River. They totally offered about 37.3 MAF available storage with 29.2 MAF for flood storage. This paper analysed the operation performance of the 21 reservoirs during the Bai-U rainy period. It evaluated the joint operation performance of 21 reservoirs, and proposed suggestions for multi-reservoir management of Yangtze River upstream in the future. The experience of operating multiple large reservoirs would inspire others to utilize reservoirs crossing multiple rivers solving flood problems in a better way, facing the new challenges from climate change. (paper)