Transboundary Dam: Hydropower Diplomacy Simulator (2D)

Dam Operation

Turbine release rate Q_out 1200 m³/s

Treaty-coordinated release

Dry-season severity 30%

Downstream irrigation demand 1400 m³/s

Live Readouts

Reservoir level

50.0%

Hydraulic head

14.8 m

Power output

0 MW

Downstream flow

0 m³/s

Diplomatic tension index0%

Cooperativedeficit 0 m³/s

How it works

The upstream reservoir is a mass-balance store: its stored volume changes with the gap between natural inflow and turbine release,

dV/dt = Q_in − Q_out
level h = V / A_surface
Head H = h_base + h
Power P = ρ g Q_out H η / 10^6  (MW)

with ρ = 1000 kg/m³, g = 9.81 m/s², turbine efficiency η = 0.9, and a fixed reservoir surface area A. Natural inflow Q_in falls as the dry-season slider rises, and any volume above capacity spills automatically. These are the exact equations used by the 3D sibling sim, ported unchanged.

Downstream, the nation depends on the released flow to meet an irrigation demand. A live deficit accumulates a diplomatic tension index:

deficit = max(0, demand − Q_out)
tension += k1·deficit·dt − k2·(1−tension)·dt   (decays when flow is adequate)

Unilateral operation lets you push Q_out as low as the slider allows, maximising the upstream reservoir's buffer at the downstream nation's expense. Treaty-coordinated operation enforces a minimum guaranteed release (a negotiated flow floor) even when you try to withhold water — the real-world logic behind agreements like the Nile Basin Initiative or the Mekong River Commission, where a legally binding minimum flow converts a zero-sum resource into a shared one and measurably lowers conflict risk. Drag the riverbank view to pan from the upstream reservoir down to the irrigated fields — a cosmetic camera move, it never touches the physics.

Reservoir (upstream nation) Released flow Downstream nation / fields

drag to pan upstream ↔ downstream

Level % & tension % vs time

Power output & flow vs demand