WSP10795 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

. Water Supply Determination Under proiections4lt Future Use Under the Department of the Interior's 1963 water supply determination, contracts for water from Navajo Reservoir, entered or to be entered, must terminate in year 2005, which now leaves less than twenty-five years for development and pay-out of a project. Utah International, Inc., which has not put to use any of the'35,300 acre-feet of consumptive use initially contracted for in 1968, has been seeking an extension of its contract beyond the year 2005. The ISC has supported such an extension. (ISC meeting held February 9, 1981) . ",: In March 1982, the Bureau of Reclamation issued a projec- tion of water u~es in the Upper Colorado River Basin, made in con- sultation with the states, wnich indicates that all but 11,000 acre-feet of the 5.8 maf annually that the Bureau assumes available to the Upper Basin would be put to use by the year 2010. With only 5.8 maf available in the Upper Basin, the Bureau computes New Mexico's share at 647,000 acre-feet, including no salvage by use. The 647,000 acre-feet would allow a total of only 5,000 acre-feet annually to be contracted from the Navajo Reservoir supply beyond the year 2005, with the remaining 642,000 acre-feet required for existing and authorized projects. Subsequent discussion among the Upper Basin states and the Bureau resulted in the Bureau reviewing its projection and preparing a draft of a revised projection under which the 5.8 maf would not be used in the Upper Basin until the year 2040 (see attached USBR letter dated May 24, 1982). Under this draft projection, 85,000 acre-feet of water would be available for municipal and industrial contracts from Navajo Reservoir through the year 2030 which would allow more than 45 years for project development and pay-out. The Bureau's draft - 8 -