Vora et al. (2026) A Diagnostic Framework and Data Inventory to Analyze Human Intervention on Streamflow

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Water Resources Research
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-01-29
• Authors: Anav Vora, Ximing Cai
• DOI: 10.1029/2025wr041029

Research Groups

Not specified in the provided abstract.

Short Summary

This study compiles a data inventory of human hydrological interventions for the Contiguous United States and develops a modeling framework to diagnose the most impactful management activities, revealing that reservoir operation and irrigation significantly alter streamflow in the Missouri and Arkansas-White-Red regions of the Mississippi River Basin.

Objective

• To compile a data inventory of human interventions in hydrological systems for the Contiguous United States, encompassing reservoir operations, inter-basin transfers, and water supplies for irrigation, municipal use, industry, and thermoelectric cooling.
• To develop a modeling framework to diagnose which management activities most strongly modify streamflow regimes and where those impacts occur.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Contiguous United States (data inventory), Mississippi River Basin (application), with specific focus on Missouri, Arkansas-White-Red, and Ohio regions.
• Temporal Scale: Not explicitly stated in the abstract.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: A modeling framework leveraging the Budyko hypothesis and an unspecified component.
• Data sources: A compiled data inventory of human interventions in hydrological systems for the Contiguous United States, including records on reservoir operations, inter-basin transfers, and water supplies for irrigation, municipal use, industry, and thermoelectric cooling.

Main Results

• Reservoir operation and irrigation together substantially alter streamflow in the Missouri and Arkansas-White-Red regions of the Mississippi River Basin.
• The analysis identifies critical data and modeling gaps for accurate streamflow simulation, such as missing canal-diversion records on the Platte River (Missouri region), insufficient tile-drain representations in the Ohio region, and surface-groundwater interactions in the Arkansas-White-Red region.

Contributions

• Compilation of a comprehensive data inventory of human interventions in hydrological systems for the Contiguous United States.
• Development of a novel modeling framework, leveraging the Budyko hypothesis, to diagnose the impacts of human water management on streamflow regimes at large scales.
• Quantitative identification of reservoir operation and irrigation as major drivers of streamflow alteration in specific sub-basins of the Mississippi River Basin.
• Identification of specific data and modeling deficiencies that hinder accurate streamflow simulation in different hydrologic regions.

Funding

Not specified in the provided abstract.

Citation

@article{Vora2026Diagnostic,
  author = {Vora, Anav and Cai, Ximing},
  title = {A Diagnostic Framework and Data Inventory to Analyze Human Intervention on Streamflow},
  journal = {Water Resources Research},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1029/2025wr041029},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2025wr041029}
}