WSP11938

• File Number: 8111.750
• Description: ARCA
• Basin: Arkansas
• Date: 12/8/2003
• Author: ARCA Operations Sec.
• Title: Special Report of the Operations Secretary Concerning Processes to Resolve Administrative Issues, the Status of Issues, and a Proposal to Alternate the Offices of Operations Sec. and Assistant Ops Sec
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I

water users upstream from the reservoir may divert without regard to the decreed
priorities in Colorado below the reservoir

The storage of water in the conservation pool is controlled by various tenns of the
Compact. For example, Article V A provides that during the period of winter storage,
beginning on November I" of each year, all water entering the reservoir up to the limit of
the available conservation capacity is to be stored, with the limited exception that
Colorado may demand releases not to exceed 100 c.f.s, OthelWise, no releases of water
from the conservation pool be made are authorized until at least April I sl of the
succeeding year, according to Article V B,

When the Arkansas River Compact Administration adopted the 1980 Operating Plan,
authorizing accounts for the ditches in Colorado Water District 67 and Kansas, it
attempted to mirror the provisions of the Compact in many respects. For example,
Section II C (I) of the 1980 Operating Plan states: "For the purposes of Compact Article
Y.F. the conservation pool shall be deemed exhausted whenever conservation storage has
been completely released into the accounts," Releases from the conservation pool under
the Compact and releases (or transfers, if you will) of conservation storage into accounts
under the 1980 Operating Plan have the same affect on storage in the conservation pool
and, thus, when the conservation pool will be deemed exhausted,

Thus, to prevent the water users upstream from John Martin Reservoir from being
affected by the decrees of the ditches in Colorado Water District 67 more frequently than
would be the case under the Compact, the release of conservation storage into accounts
must be suspended or interrupted under circumstances when releases of water from the
conservation pool would have been suspended or interrupted prior to the adoption of the
1980 Operating Plan. This administration is necessary to insure that water users
upstream from John Martin Reservoir receive the benefits they are entitled to under the
Compact.

Summer transfers #42

Section II B (3) of the 1980 Operating Plan recognizes the principle of conserving
conservation storage by providing for a potential 48-hour delay between the
~ommen~eme~t of conservation storage and the transfer into accounts, This provision is
recognition of the fact that at times during the sunnner storage season regional
thunderstonns that are of sufficient magnitude to warrant conservation storage are also
sufficient to satisfY irrigation demands for a period of time and thus would have resulted
in the deferral of releases from the conservation pool under the tenns of the Compact.

Based on this rationale, it has been the practice of the Operations Secretary to suspend
transfers of conservation storage into accounts for a period of up to 48 hours during a
period of conservation storage following a rain event sufficient to eliminate preexisting
demands for the release of account water.

- 13-