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<br />002251 <br /> <br />Juan River basins. The goal is to recover species <br />while allowing water development to take place. <br />Glen Canyon Dam also has an adaptive manage- <br />ment program that integrates scientific informa- <br />tion with dam operations. Operations at Glen <br />Canyon Dam have been modified through the <br />1996 Record of Decision for the Glen Canyon <br />Dam Environmental Impact Statement. Power <br />plant ramp rates and daily fluctuations are now <br />in place to protect downstream resources in the <br />Grand Canyon. Experimental test releases have <br />included beach habitat building flows that <br />occurred in the spring of 1996, and a low, steady <br />flow in the summer of 2000. A temperature <br />control device at the dam may be implemented <br />in the future for the benefit of humpback chub <br />populations. <br />Upper Basin uses are expected to increase <br />over the next 60 years and this will impact Lake <br />Powell, leading to a greater number of 8.23 <br />million acre-feet release years as opposed to the <br />recent years where reservoir equalization/ spill <br />avoidance has been practiced. <br /> <br />JAYNE HARKINS <br />UoSo BUREAU OF RECLAMATION, <br />LOWER COLORADO REGION: <br />Ms. Harkins provided an overview of the <br />Lower Colorado River Basin. <br />The average annual flow of the river is a little <br />over 15 million acre-feet and there is a total <br />storage capacity on the entire river of about 60 <br />million acre-feet - so there is about four times <br />the storage capacity of the river's inflow. Cur- <br />rent storage is about 47.2 million acre-feet - <br />'about 80 percent of the basin's capacity. <br />There are tributaries to the Colorado River <br />below Glen Canyon Dam though the main <br />annual tributary inflow to the Lower Colorado <br />River is less than one-and-a-half million acre- <br />feet. Tributaries include the Gila River and the <br />Bill Williams River, however, the primary source <br />of water for the Lower Basin comes from Lake <br />Powell. <br /> <br />Operation of Hoover Dam and Lake Mead is <br />consistent with the 1970 Coordinated Long- <br />Range Operating Criteria. Priorities from the <br />Boulder Canyon Project Act are to provide flood <br />control; improve navigation; regulate flows and <br />provide water for consumptive use; and lastly, <br />power generation. For Mead, there are essen- <br />tially two types of operation: normal operation <br />and flood control. <br />Normal operations are carried out to meet <br />downstream demands that include U.s. and <br />Mexico consumptive use schedules; downstream <br />evaporation and transpiration losses; and <br />reservoir regulation in lakes Mohave and <br />Havasu. <br />Flood control regulations are authorized by <br />the Corps of Engineers (Corps) and imple- <br />mented through the Bureau. January through <br />July, flood control releases are based on forecasts <br />from the National Weather Service on the <br />amount of inflow predicted to the system and <br />the current available system space. From August <br />1"1 through January 1"1, specific minimum space <br />requirements - such as one-and-a-half million <br />acre-feet in Lake Mead - are implemented. The <br />net result of flood control operations is that there <br />are releases in excess of downstream require- <br />ments. <br />Inflows to Lake Mead have varied due to low <br />water years and the filling of Lake Powell in the <br />early 80s. Flows below Hoover Dam also have <br />varied depending on flood requirements and <br />water use. <br />There are several facilities below Hoover <br />Dam. Davis Dam, about 70 miles below Hoover <br />Dam, is owned and operated by the Bureau as a <br />way to re-regulate deliveries to Mexico. Lake <br />elevations are kept within monthly targets <br />throughout the year though such targets can be <br />adjusted to meet short-term needs. <br />Parker Dam is about 150 miles downstream of <br />Hoover Dam. It, too, is owned and operated by <br />the Bureau and was built as a forebay for the <br />pumping plants that carry water to California <br />and Arizona. In normal operations, releases from <br /> <br />COLORADO <br />RIVER DELTA <br />BI-NATIONAL <br />SYMPOSIUM <br />PROCEEDINGS <br /> <br />ENGLISH <br />33 <br /> <br />