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<br />WAYNE N. ASPINALL UNIT <br />BLUE MESA, MORROW POINT, AND <br />CRYSTAL RESERVOIRS <br />(GUNNISON RIVER) <br /> <br />~~ <br />~ <br /> <br /> <br />Water Year 1991 <br /> <br />The Wayne N. Aspinall Unit, is conlprised of Blue Mesa, <br />Morrow Point, and Crystal Reservoirs. Blue Mesa provides <br />nearly all of the long-Ierm storage for all three powerplants. <br />Morrow Point provides peaking power, and thus has highly <br />w.riable releases. The primary function of Crystal Reservoir <br />is to regulate the variable Morrow Point releases. Live storage <br />capacities for Morrow Point and Crystal Reservoirs are <br />117,000 and 17,500 acre,fecl respectively. <br /> <br />Even though water year 1991 inflow was only 78 percent of <br />normal, the Aspinall Unit filled in early June. The filling of <br />Aspinall Unil facilities during 1991 resulted because only <br />minimum releases were made during 1989 and 1990. The <br />minimum release objective of the Aspinall Unit is to meet the <br />delivery requirements of the Uncompahgre Valley Project <br />and to keep a minimum of 300 cfs tlov.ing through the Black <br />Canyon of the Gunnison Nationai Monument. During 1991 <br />flows of over 4,000 cfs were experienced in the Black Canyon <br />as reservoir inflows of over 8,000 cfs occurred . To protect the <br />blue ribbon troul fishery in the Black Canyon, releases were <br />carefully planned to minimize large fluctuations in the daily <br />and monthly flows. This was accomplished with only minimal <br /> <br />ACTUAL CRYSTAL RELEASES 1991 <br /> <br />THOUSAND ACRE-FEET <br />"0 <br /> <br /> / 1\ <br /> / \ <br /> I / - '-- <br /> 1/ <br />..... <br /> LlJ <br /> <br />'00 <br /> <br />150 <br /> <br />100 <br /> <br />.0 <br /> <br />o <br />oNDJFMAMJJAS <br /> <br />amounts of water b)passing the powerplants at Blue Mesa and <br />Morrow Point. <br /> <br />April through July unregulated runoff inlo Blue Mesa <br />Reservoir was 601,()(X) acre-feet, or 78 percent of average. The <br />total unregulated inflow for \l/3ter year 1991 inflow was <br />854,000 acre-feet, or 78 percent of average. The peak <br />regulated inflow to Blue Mesa was 5.800 cubic feet per second <br />on June 15, 1991. Releases from Blue Mesa Reservoir totaled <br />758.000 acre-feet for the water year. <br /> <br />Morrow Point Reservoir was operated between elevations <br />7152 and 7160feet. Side innow (0 MorrowPoint Reservoir for <br />water year 1991 was 84,000 acre,fect. A total of 757,000 <br />acre-feet was released during the water year, with all but 2,000 <br />acre-feet passing though the powerplant. <br /> <br />During water year 1991 the maximum daily release from <br />Crystal Reservoir was 5.000 cubic feet per second. The <br />amount that bypassed through the turbine at Cry.;tal was <br />I 72,()J() acre-feet. <br /> <br />BLUE MESA RESERVOIR <br /> <br />Reservoir <br /> <br />Acre-feet <br /> <br />Elev.:ttion, feet <br /> <br />Storage Capacity <br />Rated Head <br />Minimum Power <br />Surface Are-a, full <br />Reservoir Length, full <br /> <br />829,523 <br />249,395 <br />81,070 <br /> <br />7519 <br />7438 <br />7393 <br />9,180 Acres <br />24 Miles <br /> <br />Powerplants (Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, & Cry.;tal) <br /> <br />Number ofUoirs <br />TOlal Capacity <br /> <br />5 <br />208,000 KW <br /> <br />9 <br />