Flood forecast and management model of the Rhone river optimal use of the alpine hydropower schemes for the reduction of peak flows

A semi-distributed hydrological model was developed for the upper Rhone River basin in Switzerland to provide 72 h lead time discharge forecasts for the optimization of a multireservoir system during floods The performance of the model is presented and correlated with the spatial distribution of the hydrological processes Moreover a methodology for the data assimilation by the model is presented and its performance for decision making is confirmed A decision-making tool was developed which is able to optimize the preventive operations of multiple existing hydropower plants with large reservoirs in order to limit the flood damages in the basin It allows the decision maker to estimate the cost of the decisions and of the non-decisions as well as of the cost of an inappropriate decision due to false flood forecast