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Water Operations Division

The Water and Fishery Resources Program oversees water and fish issues throughout California, Nevada and the Klamath Basin, from the Klamath River to the Lower Colorado River, and from San Francisco Bay to Eastern Nevada . Within this area, the Program focuses on the conservation and restoration of aquatic ecosystems.

Acquiring Water for Anadromous Fish

Decision Solutions Model (DSM)

For several years the Service's Water Acquisition Program has been working with stakeholders and other groups to develop a tool to assist in determining water acquisition opportunities that meet fish doubling objectives of the Central Valley Improvement Act. The Service, through a contract with CH2M Hill, recently developed a Decision Solutions Model (DSM) which incorporates technical paramenters of biology, hydrology and economics and subjective paramenters of political and public acceptance. The DSM also considers costs associated wth the regulatory process and cost related impacts. The DSM is a Decision Science Model, which considers the relationship of the various factors and their influence on the overall goal of fish doubling.

Download the Decision Solutions Model (DSM) User Guide in pdf (50 pages - 7.2mb)

Other DSM Downloads:
CDP DSM Base (229kb .cdp)
DSM Base Model (2.89mb .xls)
Validation Run, Scores and Explanations (727kb .doc)
Example Files:
Worked Example Workbook (2.9mb .xls)
Worked Example Qualitative Scores & Explanations (153kb .doc)
Worked Example Final (229kb .cdp)

Guidelines for the Appraisal of Water Rights in California

The DSM will help the Service determine water acquisition opportunities that include acquiring water through spot market purchases, long term and permanent water, conjunctive use combining ground water and surface water, and other water purchase otions. Before the Service can acquire permant or long term water supplies, a water appraisal is required. Currently there is very little guidance available regarding water valuation. To ensure consistency between water appraisals, the Service's Water Acquisition Program, through contract with The Herzog Group, has developed and published, "Guidelines for the Appraisal of Water Rights in California." The guidelines are intended to provide direction to appraisers and realty specialists in situations where the Service is acquiring California water rights and long term water. Recommendations as to how existing, but limited, directives should be interpreted when water rights are being valued are included.

Download "Guidelines for the Appraisal of Water Rights in California" in pdf.
Complete guide (237pages-17.5mb pdf)
or
Download the guide by Sections:
Title, Table of Contents and Executive Summary (22 pages - 456kb)
Section 1: Summary of Water Rights in California (20 pages - 404kb)
Section 2: Appraisal of California Water Rights (23 pages - 403kb)
Section 3: Case Studies (26 pages - 681kb)
Addendums 1-13 (88 pages - 15.9mb)