diff --git a/include/realizations/catchment/Bmi_Adapter.hpp b/include/realizations/catchment/Bmi_Adapter.hpp
index 640ef34d5f..c03c1d1233 100644
--- a/include/realizations/catchment/Bmi_Adapter.hpp
+++ b/include/realizations/catchment/Bmi_Adapter.hpp
@@ -33,9 +33,10 @@ namespace models {
             {
                 // This replicates a lot of Initialize, but it's necessary to be able to do it separately to support
                 // "initializing" on construction, given using Initialize requires use of virtual functions
+                errno = 0;
                 if (!utils::FileChecker::file_is_readable(this->bmi_init_config)) {
                     init_exception_msg = "Cannot create and initialize " + this->model_name + " using unreadable file '"
-                            + this->bmi_init_config + "'";
+                            + this->bmi_init_config + "'. Error: "+std::strerror(errno);
                     throw std::runtime_error(init_exception_msg);
                 }
             }
@@ -164,6 +165,7 @@ namespace models {
             void Initialize() {
                 // If there was previous init attempt but w/ failure exception, throw runtime error and include previous
                 // message
+                errno = 0;
                 if (model_initialized && !init_exception_msg.empty()) {
                     throw std::runtime_error(
                             "Previous " + model_name + " init attempt had exception: \n\t" + init_exception_msg);
@@ -174,7 +176,7 @@ namespace models {
                 }
                 else if (!utils::FileChecker::file_is_readable(bmi_init_config)) {
                     init_exception_msg = "Cannot initialize " + model_name + " using unreadable file '"
-                            + bmi_init_config + "'";
+                            + bmi_init_config + "'. Error: "+std::strerror(errno);;
                     throw std::runtime_error(init_exception_msg);
                 }
                 else {
diff --git a/include/utilities/FileStreamHandler.hpp b/include/utilities/FileStreamHandler.hpp
index 1e4108fbaa..04dd901934 100644
--- a/include/utilities/FileStreamHandler.hpp
+++ b/include/utilities/FileStreamHandler.hpp
@@ -8,13 +8,26 @@ namespace utils
     class FileStreamHandler : public StreamHandler
     {
       public:
-            FileStreamHandler(const char* path) : StreamHandler()
+            FileStreamHandler(const char* path) : StreamHandler(), path(path)
             {
-                auto stream = std::make_shared<std::ofstream>();
-                stream->open(path, std::ios::trunc);
+                stream = std::make_shared<std::ofstream>();
+                stream->open(path, std::ios::trunc); //clear any existing data
+                stream->close(); //avoid too many open files
                 output_stream = stream;
             }
             virtual ~FileStreamHandler(){}
+
+            template<class DataType> std::ostream& operator<<(const DataType& val)
+            {
+                if( !stream->is_open() ) 
+                    stream->open(path, std::ios_base::app);
+                put(val);
+                stream->close();
+                return *output_stream;
+            }
+      private:
+        std::string path;
+        std::shared_ptr<std::ofstream> stream;
     };
 
 }