Integrated Technical Education Workgroup

The Integrated Technical Education Workgroup (ITEW) was created to ensure that Colorado River partners have a common and accurate understanding of the underlying tools and concepts needed to meaningfully participate in the development of Post-2026 operating alternatives. The goal of the ITEW is to assist interested partners from across the Basin to gain a better understanding of the technical tools and approaches that we anticipate using in the Post-2026 Process. Participants include Tribes, States, municipalities, water and irrigation districts, non-governmental organizations, and other Federal agencies. Through the ITEW, Reclamation offers education about the models, data, and concepts used frequently in its studies, and shares information specifically about the technical framework that will support the Post-2026 Process.

Meetings and Webinars

  • Integrated Technical Education Workgroup Session #6 - Web Tool Operational Paradigms and Uncertainties Follow Up

    This session describes the role of alternative paradigms in the Post-2026 Operations Exploration Tool (Web Tool) and explains the concepts and levers that can be combined into 48 customizable paradigms in the Web Tool strategy creation interface. It also reviews the approach to representing uncertainty in hydrology, demands, and initial conditions in Web Tool modeling and describes the specific inputs chosen for each category.


    • Webinar Presentation

  • Integrated Technical Education Workgroup Session #5 - Metrics, Tradeoffs, Robustness and Vulnerability; September 20, 2023

    This session features academic experts from University of Colorado, Boulder, who describe the specific DMDU approach being used in the post-2026 alternatives development process. It also provides information about how Reclamation will approach specific analytical components in the Post-2026 Web Tool.


    • Webinar Presentation

  • Integrated Technical Education Workgroup Session #4 - Demands; August 2, 2023

    This meeting describes how projections of future demands are created and used in official Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS) modeling and how demands and other inputs will be handled in the Post-2026 Web Tool. Reclamation then provides additional information about hydrology and is joined by researchers from Utah State University who present a newly developed hydrology ensemble.


    • Webinar Presentation

    ITEW Session #4 - Glossary

  • Integrated Technical Education Workgroup Session #3 - Hydrology; June 23, 2023

    Hydrology in the Colorado River Basin is a complex and challenging system to monitor and model. This meeting provides an overview of historical hydrology including how Reclamation calculates natural flows. The Reclamation modeling team then explains the approach for modeling future hydrology using ensembles and the approach to using hydrology in the Post-2026 Web Tool.


    • Webinar Presentation

    ITEW Session #3 - Glossary

    Integrated Technical Education Workgroup Session #2 - Colorado River Simulation System; May 3, 2023

    The Colorado River Simulation System, also known as CRSS, is a comprehensive model of the Colorado River Basin and the primary tool for analyzing future river and reservoir conditions in a long-term planning context. It generates potential future conditions for many critical system components (e.g., reservoir elevations, releases, energy generation) at a monthly timestep for decades into the future. Learn more in the presentation.

    Webinar Presentation

    Integrated Technical Education Workgroup Kick-off Meeting — December 7, 2022

    Reclamation held the initial Integrated Technical Education Workgroup meeting on December 7, 2022. The meeting provided an overview of technical approaches of past efforts, an introduction of decision making under deep uncertainty, implementation of decision making under deep uncertainty in Post 2026 Operations, and future sessions.


    Webinar Presentation

Last Updated: 12/7/23