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<br />OJaJ3~ <br /> <br />TITLE: <br /> <br />INTERsTATE COMPACT POlley ANALYSIS <br /> <br />NEED: To provide Colorado state officials, compact commissioners, and their constituents with <br />a tool in order to take an informed position regarding the annual and long range operation of <br />major Colorado River system reservoirs, and about other major issues related to the compacts and <br />the "Law of the River, II by making timely but confidential investigations of various operating <br />alternatives. <br /> <br />BACKGROUND: The 1922 Colorado River Compact apportioned the right to use the flow of <br />the Colorado River between the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin. The 1948 Upper Colorado <br />River Compact further apportioned the flows of the Colorado River above Lee Ferry, Arizona <br />among the Upper Basin states. Major water projects, such as the Boulder Canyon Project (BCP), <br />the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP), and the Central Arizona Project (CAP) created the <br />need to develop computer modelling capabilities to address various operating alternatives or <br />IIwhat if' scenarios. This capability has evolved into the Colorado River Simulation System <br />(CRSS) developed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) to run on a Control Data <br />Corporation Cyber computer. <br /> <br />CRSS is a complex computer program designed to perform comprehensive long-range planning <br />and operational studies. The effects of changes in various operations and depletions in major <br />Colorado River reservoirs (Flaming Gorge, Aspinall, Navajo, Powell, Mead, Mojave, and Havasu) <br />and deliveries to major users can be studied. <br /> <br />The input consists of the physical features of the system and several databases including monthly <br />hydrologic data for both quantity and quality, estimates of annual consumptive uses and losses <br />from each state, and proposed depletion schedules by stream reaches for each of the seven basin <br />states. The model contains the "Law of the Riverll and demonstrates how the law and hydrologic <br />conditions impact the river system's ability to meet demands while conserving storage. <br /> <br />The CRSS is a large scale model and thus provides an overview of how the entire basin operates <br />on the whole. While the administration of water rights differs in each of the seven basin states, <br />it is not efficient or necessary to model what happens to every individual water right in each <br />state. Only the situation at a few key locations needs to be determined. <br /> <br />The need to model the operation of the Colorado River system reservoirs has -become <br />increasingly important given California's desire to use all and more of their compact <br />apportionment. The recent drought in California has caused the Los Angeles Metropolitan Water <br />District to rely more and more on Colorado River water. <br /> <br />Currently, investigations of alternative reservoir operations are requested of the Bureau of <br />Reclamation by the States. However, the ability to get a timely response to the questions posed <br />is subject to limitations placed on USBR staff and budget, and the results of such investigations <br />become public knowledge for all in a relatively short time. While a few private consultants have <br />developed hybrid versions of CRSS, it is expensive to run given that it operates on a mainframe <br />Cyber computer. It is desired to reduce the response time and limit the chance of exposing the <br />results of such investigations prematurely. <br />