Theory 85/Society & governance/Water storage
Storage Is Variability Against Demand
The claim
The storage needed to secure supply is set by the ratio of inflow variability to demand, so a variable river needs far more storage than its mean flow suggests.
01Mechanism
Storage buffers the gap between supply and demand across dry periods.
02Prediction
Required storage should track the ratio.
03Refutation
Storage tracking mean flow would remove variability.