Interactive comment on “Minimizing the impact of vacating instream storage of a multi-reservoir system: a tradeoff study of water supply and empty flushing” by Chia-Wen Wu et al

This paper explores the feasibility of empty flushing in a two-reservoirs system, minimizing the impact of the operation on the multiple use of water storage (i.e., municipal, agricultural, industrial, and hydropower supply). The reservoirs are located in SW Taiwan. Due to siltation, the larger one (Tsengwen Reservoir) has lost about 30% of its original storage capacity (630 Mm3) in the 45 years following dam closure (1973). The smaller one (Wushanto Reservoir), if properly managed, could satisfy local water demand when flushing Tsengwen Reservoir. The general subject of adopting empty flushing to recover reservoir storage, and the specific topic of optimizing multi-purpose