WSP10226

• File Number: 8240.300.03
• Description: San Juan River - Recovery Implementation Program - General Info
• Basin: San Juan/Dolores
• Water Division: 7
• Date: 6/22/2001
• Title: Final Environmental Assessment on Proposed Short-Term Low FlowTest Releases from Navajo Reservoir into the San Juan River
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: EIS

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34. Comment:

Response:

35. Comment:

Response:

36. Comment:

Response:

31. Comment:

Response:

Historicflows and impacts at Bluffwill be described in the EIS,

The EA should acknowledge that the National Park Service likely has
Federal Reserved Water rights (as yet unquantified) along the San Juan
River with the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and one of the
purposes of the low flow test will be to determine if 250 cfs flows would
violate those rights,
Reclamation is conferring with National Park Service water right experts
to determine if there is a right and if long-term operations of Navajo
Reservoir could be affected by the right, This issue will be addressed in
the operations EIS,

From a river rafting point of view around Bluff, even 500 cfs is too low;
Bluff flows need to be around 1,000 cfs, A recreational threshold value for
flows at Bluff should be established,
Designating a recreational threshold flow for recreation on a river is not
afunction of the Bureau of Reclamation. Minimum rafting flows vary with
type of equipment, experience of the recreationist, type of trip and other
factors. Minimumflow needs varying between 500 and 1,000 cfs have
been mentioned at public meetings,

It seems essential that the low flow test include an evaluation of the effects
on recreational boating downstream from Bluff, especially at the Clay
Hills Crossing take-out in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.
There is a siltation problem in the Clay Hills area. Clay Hills actually is
within the high water area of Lake Powell, When the lake drops, silt
deposits inteifere with boating and this is a more difficult problem at low
flows, An evaluation of this problem is beyond the scope of the EA;
however if impacts occur at the site, they will be recorded in the low flow
test report.

Trout Fishery

Rapidly decreasing stream flows can lead to stranding of fish as declining
water levels leave previously-occupied habitats without water, The draft
EA does not address whether the proposed ramp-down of 250 cfs over
four hours is adequate to allow fish to adjust to the changing stream
channel. The EA also does not identify the rate of the ramp (increment per
hour),
The ramp rate is 200 cfs per 2 hours, The proposed ramping rate
identified in the draft EA was formulated with the New Mexico
Department of Game and Fish's input, This is the same ramping rate used

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