Economic regrets of limited streamflow data for reservoir storage assessment

Reliable assessment of reservoir storage-yield relationships depends on the availability of long, accurate streamflow data record which is representative of the underlying hydrological process at the site. When the data record is short, as is often the case in practice, the assessment is erroneous and the resulting capacity estimate is either under- or over-designed; in such a case, economic penalties are sustained. The aim of this paper is to present an opportunity loss (OL) model for quantifying the economic regrets and to show how such information could be usefully applied in making investment decisions on streamgauging, particularly in drought prone Mediterranean regions.