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Reservoirs supply drinking water, irrigation, and hydroelectric power, but managing them requires balancing competing demands. During wet seasons, operators must release water to maintain flood-control capacity, even if this means letting valuable water flow downstream unused. In dry periods, the same reservoirs face pressure to conserve supply while still meeting minimum flow requirements for downstream ecosystems, which depend on periodic water releases to sustain fish spawning cycles. Sediment buildup gradually reduces storage capacity, a problem often underestimated in long-term planning. Some modern reservoir systems now use real-time weather forecasting and computer modeling to optimize release schedules, aiming to reduce both flood risk and drought vulnerability simultaneously. Critics argue that aging infrastructure in many regions was never designed for the increasingly erratic rainfall patterns now being observed.