WSP09722 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

38 Farmington (below Animas River confluence), and 17,600 cfs at Shiprock. 4. The following procedure will be used to implement flow recommendations developed by the San Juan Recovery Implementation Program's Biology Committee (with oversight by the Coordination Committee) for the research period. The Navajo Dam Operating Committee shall advise the Biology Committee on available water to meet the needed flow requests for the research effort during any particular year. The representative from Bureau of Reclamation-Navajo Dam Operations, shall meet with the Biology Committee in January to present information on the projected water availability of the current water year (1 April-30 November) and storage capacity of Navajo Reservoir. The Biology Committee shall develop the desired criteria for releases for the current water year (April through November). The Navajo Dam Operating Committee shall meet sometime before March 10 of each year to analyze this input and determine if the release conditions can be met, considering senior water rights and water supply. Any other considerations to be addressed should be compiled at this time and a report prepared by the Operating Committee for the Biology Committee. The report will be presented to the Biology Committee in March by a representative of the Operating Committee in time to finalize release targets for the current water year. Disputes among representatives that cannot be resolved at the Biology Committee level shall be referred to the San Juan Recovery Implementation Program's Coordination Committee. 5. Reclamation shall cooperate with the Biology Committee and Navajo Dam Operating Committee to determine the release hydrograph for spring flows and shall follow the agreed upon hydrograph without deviation, except under emergency conditions or where deviation is required to stay within the Corps of Engineers flood operating rules. 6. At the termination of the biological studies undertaken during the research period, year-round flow recommendations based on the best scientific and commercial data then available will determine the manner and extent to which Navajo Dam shall be operated to mimic a natural hydrograph (see Appendix A) for the life of the Animas-La Plata Project. The year-round flow recommendations are to be developed by the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program's Biology Committee and approved by the Coordination Committee, Service and Reclamation. 7. The binding agreements (Appendix B) to legally protect the reservoir releases (for both the study period and for the life of the Animas-La Plata Project) to and through the endangered fish habitat to Lake Powell that were executed in support of the 1991 biological opinion for the Animas-La Plata Project will continue with all force and effect. The Bureau of Reclamation will continue to participate in and contribute funding for the San Juan Recovery Implementation Program that was established by cooperative agreement on November 1,