In 2002, the Public Interest Energy Research Program of the California Energy Commission and the Division of Water Rights of the State Water Resources Control Board have established the Pulsed Flow Program through the Center for Aquatic Biology and Aquaculture of the University of California, Davis, to address the ecological effects of manufactured or augmented flows from hydropower facilities on aquatic resources within California.

   The program is specifically looking at the effects of pulsed flows on aquatic habitats and biotic communities in California streams and rivers. Other issues associated with such flows, for example, the economic consequences of providing augmented flows for white water rafting will not be addressed by this program.

The goal of this program is to:

1. Identify and fund research that will address the ecological effects of such flows, especially those occurring between April and October;
   
2. Identify the relationship between such flows and base flow conditions;
   
3. Improve existing or develop new protocols and models for resource assessment and impact identification;
   
4. Identify thresholds for impact significance; and
   
5. Develop mitigation measures that will reduce or help avoid such impacts.

Research and development funded under this program need to further our understanding of these processes and provide better tools to resolve the more significant effects while avoiding unnecessary curtailment of hydropower operation because of a lack of knowledge. As such it is also necessary that funded research provide information and/or tools that will be applicable to other water bodies as well.