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Water Water Everywhere
The following numbers are what is used by the computer
simulation
The Virgin Water Supply (VWS) is the total amount of water available for allocation to each State. The VWS is a combination of precipitation and seepage via springs from the aquifer. The water that would have seeped from a spring but did not, due to pumping, is also a part of the VWS. The State's definition of Consumptive Use (CU) is the estimated amount of water leaving a managed water system in a specified area due to human activity. This includes evaporation from a reservoir. Evaporation from a corn plant is consumptive use while evaporation from trees and grass are not consumptive use. The single greatest factor affecting the Virgin Water Supply is precipitation.
The Mainstem is the portion of the Republican River that flows, even if you ignore the effect of the tributaries. The Mainstem + is the unallocated flow.
Note that the Arikaree, Beaver, Sappa, and Prairie Dog have almost stopped flowing. According to the Model, wells near these streams do not cause the stream to stop flowing anymore because the streams already have. Thus Kansas, which has dried up most of the Republican River Basin streams in their state, has a much lower Consumptive Use effect than the same amount of pumping in Nebraska has. This means the Model encourages Nebraska to dry up its streams to lower its obligation to Kansas. The Model encourages exactly the opposite activity from what most desire.
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