Through this grant, this project will be completed in four phases over four years.

During Phase 1, RTI International will evaluate consumptive use modeling from the State of Colorado and develop a technical approach to make the model outputs compatible with the Colorado Basin River Forecast

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Center (CBRFC) framework.

The approach will be implemented in a pilot watershed and the resulting forecasts will be compared to historical forecasts to determine whether the additional data significantly improved the forecast skill in that watershed.

If Phase 1 shows that the data from external modeling can significantly improve CBRFC forecasts, Phase 2 will evaluate whether the same potential skill increase exists for other Colorado River Basin (CRB) watersheds within the State of Colorado.

Phase 3 will evaluate consumptive use data and modeling from sources beyond the State of Colorado to determine whether there are additional opportunities to improve forecasts for CRB watersheds in other states and develop approaches to incorporate the data.

If appropriate data sources are identified, Phase 4 will incorporate the external data for those applicable watersheds.