Read from File Method

Note: The Read from File Method is primarily of use for datasets created in older versions of WEAP. If you are creating a new text file for import into WEAP, use the ReadFromFile function instead.

If you have monthly data on inflows to some or all of your rivers and local supplies, the Read From File Method allows you to model the system using this sequence of inflows. The required file formats for these data files are given in ASCII Data File Format for Monthly Inflows. You can export gaged inflow data from many conventional hydrologic databases into ASCII files, and then edit these files into the required format. (USGS has extensive streamflow data for the United States available for download from the Web at http://water.usgs.gov) For ungaged locations, you will have to calculate streamflow estimates prior to entering them into WEAP.

The monthly inflow data is not restricted to historical values. Your detailed projected monthly surface water assumptions can be based on historical data, or on projections from some external model, or a mixture of both. For example, you might want to modify historical flows to account for projected changes due to climate change. Or you could use outputs from a climate model to project future inflows.

You can choose different time intervals from the historical data files to simulate the system over various historical time periods. For instance, if your study period is twenty years and you have sixty years of historical data, WEAP allows you to easily select any of the forty-one different twenty-year periods from the historical data, to explore the effects of various sequences of hydrologic conditions. Refer to ASCII Data File Format for Monthly Inflows for details.

Entered on: Data View, Branch: Hydrology \ Read from File