WSPC12525

• File Number: 8282.400
• Description: Colorado River Operations and Accounting - Deliveries to Mexico
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 9/11/2001
• Author: Unknown
• Title: Colorado River Delta Symposium - United States-Mexico - Mexicali-Baja California - Symposium Report - Reviewed Copy with Staff Notes- 09-11-01
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

0022~9

banking will playa very important role for
Nevada as the Las Vegas region continues to
grow. Such banking is allowed due to flexibility
of the Law of the River that allows the unused
apportionment of one state to be used by an-
otheL !
Water banking in Arizona is permitted under '
federal regulations adopted in 1999 and since
then Nevada has negotiated a water banking
agreement with the Arizona Water Bank. Under
such agreements, water agencies in Nevada or
California would pay Arizona to place part of
unused apportionments in the ground. Later,
when those water agencies request water,
Arizona water users will pump the stored water
for use and reduce diversions from the Colorado
River - thus allowing water from the main-
stream to be release to those water agencies that
have built up credits in the water bank.
Major reservoir storage is an integral part of
water supply for the Lower Basin. Hoover Dam
holds back approximately 28 million acre-feet of
water that forms Lake Mead. Generation from
the turbines at the dam total about 4 billion
kilowatt hours. Reservoir levels in Mead and
upstream at Lake Powell are coordinated by the
Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) under the 1970
Long-Range Operating Criteria and the 1968
Colorado River Basin Project Act
A number of environmental issues impact the
Lower Basin. Salinity, the most historic water
quality issue on the Lower Colorado River, was
addressed by Minute 242 which requires U.s.,
water deliveries to Mexico to not exceed 115
parts-per-million, plus or minus 30 parts-per-
million, over the average salinity at Imperial
Dam. Following the minute, the Colorado River
Basin Salinity Control Forum was enacted and
the 1974 Colorado River Basin Salinity Control
Act was passed. Standards of the act are re-
viewed every three years.
The Salton Sea is another environmental issue
in the Lower Basin and is located in Imperial
and Riverside counties in California. The sea has K"
a salt concentration 25 percent greater than the
Pacific Ocean and continues to take on an 1
~

additional four to five million tons of salt
annually. There are regular fish kills on the sea'l~
which serves as a large bird habitat as well as a
large sport fishery. The Salton Sea Authority an
the Bureau are the lead agencies in preparing the
environmental impact documents for the sea and
currently salt removal is the primary target.
Other potential problems exist for the sea as its
primary supply of water is agricultural flow
from the Coachella and Imperial valleys and
pending water transfers and conservation efforts
could reduce those flows to the sea.
The are a number of environmental undertak-
ings along the mainstem of the Colorado River
as well. Under guidelines of the 1973 Endan-
gered Species Act and from determinations by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the
National Marine Fishery Service, recovery
programs have been established for a number of
endangered species including the razorback
sucker, the bony tail chub, the southerwestern
willow flycatcher, the Yuma clapper rail and the
flat-tailed horned lizard. The Bureau has estab-
lished the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species
Conservation Program, a regional, state, federal,
tribal and private partnership aimed at recover-
ing the aforementioned endangered species
while not hindering river operations. A number
of environmental groups have sued the Depart-
ment of Interior and other agencies because of
concerns over river operations on wildlife in
Mexico which they feel should be covered by the
ESA.

MARIO ALFONSO CANTU SUAREZ
NATIONAL WATER COMMISSION,
MEXICO CITY, DoE:
The National Water Commission has had a
regulatory framework in place since the 1920s.
The initial regulations dealt with irrigation laws
and originated with the National Irrigation
Commission. These were created to help pro-
mote agriculture in Mexico and help initiate
construction of hydraulic infrastructure.
From 1947 to 1976, the Secretariat of Water
really began to implement irrigation law. For the

COLORADO
RIvER DELTA
BI-NATIONAL
SYMPOSIUM
PROCEEDINGS

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