Transboundary Dam: Hydropower Diplomacy Simulator

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

45.0 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.

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.

Reservoir (upstream nation) Released flow Downstream nation

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