Current operations with historical land use A management strategy in the COEQWAL scenario library
This strategy follows the COEQWAL Current Operations scenario with one change: agricultural water demands are set from the older 2004–2013 average land-use dataset instead of the 2020 LandIQ map. Operating rules, TUCP actions, and everything else match the Current Operations.
This brief describes the “Current Operations with Historical Land Use” scenario, one of 28 management strategies in the COEQWAL scenario library. Each strategy is simulated once under each of five hydroclimates; the references note at the end of this brief lists the model runs.
§2 What this strategy changes
The strategy changes the land-use assumption that sets agricultural water demands. The COEQWAL Current Operations scenario uses a 2020 map of irrigated agriculture (the LandIQ dataset); this strategy instead uses the 2004–2013 average land use, which matches that used in DWR's 2023 Delivery Capability Report release.
Land use enters CalSim through the irrigation demands calculated for each demand unit, so the difference between the two datasets appears in the model as a difference in how much water is needed for agricultural purposes, and where. All operating rules — including the active TUCP actions— are unchanged from the COEQWAL Current Operations scenario.
§3 The configuration in detail
The table compares the eight operational fields that define this strategy against current operations — the strategy that represents existing operational rules, recent (2020) land use, and TUCPs. Rows that match current operations are shown in light gray; rows that differ are highlighted.
| Aspect | Current operations | This strategy |
|---|---|---|
| TUCP actions | Active | Active |
| SGMA actions | None | None |
| Land use | 2020 LandIQ | 2004-2013 average |
| Delta regulations | Standard | Standard |
| BiOps | 2019 / 2020 ITP | 2019 / 2020 ITP |
| Infrastructure | Standard | Standard |
| Flows | Standard | Standard |
| Allocation / priorities | Standard | Standard |
§4 Lineage and source
The configuration used in this scenario follows DWR's 2023 Delivery Capability Report baseline but modified to activate TUCP actions. While the COEQWAL Current Operations scenario is further modified to use the 2020 LandIQ dataset, this strategy retains the earlier 2004–2013 average, so these two scenarios isolate the land-use assumption. The CalSim model files for this strategy are referenced by the run IDs in the references note at the end of this brief.
§6 What this doesn't say
This brief describes a scenario representation in CalSim, not a real-world policy proposal or implementation plan. The strategy as modeled may not capture all details necessary to support direct translation to actual operations. The brief does not predict, evaluate, or recommend any outcome — it describes what the scenario changes about CalSim's representation of the system. For what the model produces under this strategy, see the result briefs referenced in §7.
§7 See results for this strategy
To see modeled outcomes for the current-operations family across all nine key outcomes at the reference hydroclimate, see the BASELINES brief.
To see outcomes at a specific location of interest, see the relevant LOI briefs — particularly those for agricultural locations in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys.
References — model runs
Each strategy is simulated once under each of five hydroclimates. The table lists the model run behind this strategy and the current-operations run it is compared against, for each hydroclimate, so any reader can trace this page to specific CalSim runs.
| Hydroclimate | This strategy | Current operations |
|---|---|---|
| Historical hydroclimate (adjusted) | s0011 | s0020 |
| Moderate climate stress (EC-Earth3-Veg) | s0133 | s0134 |
| Moderate-high climate stress (cc50) | s0048 | s0047 |
| High climate stress (cc95) | s0057 | s0056 |
| Extreme climate stress (TaiESM1) | s0107 | s0108 |