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. . The preliminary December II do forecast of 1998 end-of-year California agricultural consumptive use of Colorado River water under the first three priorities of the 1931 California Seven Party Agreement is 3.866 maf. This estimate is based on the collective use through November 1998 by the Palo Verde Irrigation District (PVID), the Yuma Project Reservation Division (YPRD), the Imperial Irrigation District (lID), and the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD). Figure I, found at the end of this report, depicts the forecast of end-of-year agricultural use for the year. Colorado River Ooerations Included in the Board folder is a copy of a letter from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) to Colorado River mainstream water users transmitting Reclamation's forecast for water use for calendar year 1998. Reclamation is asking each user to monitor its usage and avoid any overuse during the remaining part of the year. Reclamation's November forecast for year end water use for the Lower Basin is 7,677,913 acre-feet verses the Board's estimate of7,583,000 acre- feet. On December 2nd, Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt, transmitted the 1999 Annual Operating Plan for the Colorado River Reservoirs (1999 AOP) to the seven governors of the Colorado River Basin states. He stated in his letter that based on "... I) the existing water supply conditions in the basin, 2) the most probable near-term water supply conditions in the basin, and 3) that the beneficial consumptive use requirements of Colorado River mainstream users in the Lower Division States are expected to be more than 7.5 maf, the surplus condition is the criterion governing the operation of Lake Mead ...and 1.7 mafwill be scheduled for delivery to Mexico...during calendar year 1999." A copy of the transmittal letter is included in the Board folder. For the past two months, I have been reporting to you on Reclamation's progress in making flood control space available (6.0 million acre-feet) within the Colorado River reservoir system in order to meet the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood control regulations for Hoover Dam and to reduce the possibility of future downstream damages caused by flood control releases in January, February, and March 1999. Included in the Board folder are three news releases from Reclamation delineating its progress to date and the release schedules it is forecasting through December 31" from Parker, Davis and Hoover Dams. On June 22nd, the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, published in the Federal Register, a Notice of Public Comment Period on Proposed Agreement for Leasing of Colorado River Water and Non-Irrigation of Lands on Chemehuevi Indian Reservation. Last month I had included a copy of the Board's comments in response to the Notice. This month, for your information, I have included a copy ofCVWD's comments to the Notice. Basin StatesfTribes Discussion Included in last month's Board folder was an October 20, 1998, letter from Mr. James Lochhead of Colorado to Mr. Dave Kennedy and me regarding: "Background and Principles for Negotiation of Special Interim Surplus Criteria." Attached to Mr. Lochhead's letter was a list of nine principles which the other six Colorado River Basin states have agreed upon to establish the 2