CW3E Welcomes Chris Delaney

March 9, 2022

Chris Delaney joined CW3E on March 1, 2022, as a research engineer to support Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations projects. Chris comes from Sonoma Water where he spent 17 years providing leadership and ingenuity in the management of the water resources of the Russian River. Chris has been involved with FIRO from its beginnings with the first pilot project at Lake Mendocino where he developed a novel approach to FIRO, Ensemble Forecast Operations, which was selected as the preferred alternative in a 2020 final viability assessment. Chris earned a B.S. in Environmental Resources Engineering from the Humboldt State University (1997). Additionally, the many years of partnering with researchers, such as CW3E, to develop engineering solutions for the unique challenges of the Russian River system have provided Chris a wealth of experience in water resources and reservoir management.

At CW3E, Chris will continue the FIRO engineering research that he spearheaded for Lake Mendocino and evaluate other reservoirs systems throughout the West. Through the guidance of Luca Delle Monache, Chris will develop and analyze new reservoir operations that can skillfully utilize forecast information to inform reservoir release decisions.