WSP09412 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

~ -- ~ 1'" r, uv'. o ery records below Parker Dam for 1970-71. This table shows that 146,338 acre-feet, or 2.3 percent, of the total water ordered on the Lower Colorado River was not taken. Of this amount, 96,762 acre-feet were delivered to storage, 47,173 acre-feet were taken by oth- ers, and 2,403 acre-feet were delivered as ex- cess to Mexico. California users did not take about I percent of the quantity ordered. Ari- zona users did not take about 5 percent of their orders. Criteria for Coordinated Operation of Colorado River Reservoirs The Board's 1969 Annual Report lists the major features of the criteria for the coor- dinated long-range operation of Lake Mead and the Colorado River Storage Project Act reservoirs which were proposed by the Sec- retary of the Interior in accordance with Sec- tion 602 of PL 90-537, The Board's 1970 An- nual Report discusses the adoption of the criteria by the Secretary of the Interior on June 8, 1970, and the criticism of the criteria by the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, and the Upper Colorado Riv- er Commission. On February 27,1971, the Upper Colorado River Commission adopted a resolution which strenuously protested the provisions of the criteria, particularly the use of an ob- jective of a minimum annual release of 8.23 million acre-feet per year from Lake Powell. The resolution stated that this objective "vio- lates the spirit of the Colorado River Com- pact and places upon the upper division states an obligation not intended under said Compact", The resolution also reaffirmed the position expressed by the Governors of the four Upper Basin States in their letter of March 30, 1970, This letter also included ob- jections to other parts of the criteria and to the Secretary's decision to continue the 1962 Glen Canyon Filling Criteria, The letter fur- ther stated that the States do not waive, "their rights individually or collectively to resort to any other forms of recourse avail- able". In this letter the Governors urged the Secretary to reverse his decision refusing to reimburse the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund for costs incurred in connection with impairment of capacity and energy resulting from lowering Lake Mead below elevation 1,123 feet during the early Lake Powell fill- ing period in 1964 and 1965. First Annual Reservoir Operation Report Section 602(b) of P,L. 90-537 requires, be- ginning January I, 1972, and yearly thereaf- ter, the Secretary of the Interior to transmit to the Congress and to the Governors of the Colorado River Basin States, a report de- scribing the actual operation under the Mead-Powell operating criteria for the pre- ceding compact water year and the projected operation for the current year, On October 15, 1971, the Bureau of Reclamation sent to the Board for review and comment a draft copy of the first annual operating report enti- tled "Operation of the Colorado River, 1971- 1972". The Chief Engineer, in a letter to the Bu- reau dated October 20, 1971, commented on several aspects of the report. The primary comment was on the method of computing Upper Basin reserve storage required by Sec- tion 602 (a) of P.L. 90-537. This section pro- vides for the storage of that quantity of Colo- rado River water in Upper Basin reservoirs which is reasonably necessary to assure Com- pact deliveries without impairment of annu- al consumptive uses in the Upper Basin. The October 15 draft used a method of computing required 602 (a) storage which, if followed in the future, would be extremely detrimental to Lower Basin interests, Enough 602 (a) storage was provided to meet Compact deliveries during the most critical dry period on the Colorado while maintain- ing minimum power pools in Upper Basin reservoirs. The October 20 letter pointed out that P.L. 90-537 and the Operating Criteria refer to the prevention of impairment of Upper Basin consumptive uses, and cannot be construed to allow protection of the Upper Basin pow- er pool thereby causing Lower Basin short- ages. The letter also stated that, based on the Bureau's hydrologic analyses performed in 19