Laserfiche WebLink
<br />001246 <br /> <br />BLACK CANYON INFORMA nON PAPER <br /> <br />Oct. 2000 <br /> <br />significant to the imagination as the chasm of the Black Canyon is to the sight. I It is true that <br />regulated flows of the Gunnison River through the monument below the existing irrigation <br />diversion tunnel have, for comparatively briefperiods, been reduced to hardly more than <br />scattered pools. But, without exception, these periods have been followed within the space of a <br />few months with the great, furious spring torrents with their scouring effects that have, in the <br />main, been responsible, both for creating the spectacular gorge and deepening it. Regulation <br />will have an adverse effect on this natural process. <br /> <br />With the Crystal Reservoir operated as are-regulatory afterbay for the Curecanti Reservoir, <br />additional effects on river flows through the monument should be negligible. On this basis it can <br />be assumed that itwill be the Curecanti which will affect the monument in this respect rather <br />than tAe Crystal unit. Such changes in natural conditions, while very undesirable, are <br />nevertheless not sufficiently adverse to offset the economic advantages to be gained by river <br />regulation in the public interest. <br /> <br />July 15, 1959: 86th Congress, In Session, House Document No. 2013, Curee.nti Unit <br />Colorado River Stora1:e Project. Letter from Adine Secretary of the Interior transmittine a <br />sUPDlemental report and certification of economic justification of the Curecanti Storae:e <br />Unit oftbe Colorado River Storae:e Proiectin Colorado. Dunuant to the Act of April 11. <br />1956 (70 Stat. 105). <br /> <br />In a letter to the President from the Secretary of the Interior, dated May 15, 1959. the Secretary <br />recommends two storage dams at the Blue Mesa and Morrow Point sites. The Secretary also <br />proposed to continue a feasibility analysis at the Crystal site. The Secretary states: ". . , the <br />Curecanti unit would regulate streamflows and provide downstream flood control, recreation, and <br />inigation benefits as presented in the enclosed economic justification report." (page VIll) <br /> <br />Bureau of Reclamation. Region 4. submitted an economic justification report. The summary <br />sheet plan states: Flows of the Gunnison River will be largelY controlled by the Blue Mesa <br />Reservoir, the larger and uppermost of the two reservoirs. Water releasedfrom the Blue Mesa <br />Reservoir through a pawerplant at the dam will receive short-term regulation at the Morrow <br />Point Reservoir immediately downstream. Water releases through the Morrow Point Dam and <br />powerplant will be relatively uniform in order to satisfy downstream water rights and to maintain <br />a flow of 100 second-feet or more through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National <br />Monument. (p. XXIII) <br /> <br />Reservoir Operations were designed to simulate the following water releases at Morrow Point <br />Dam: <br />1. A minimum annual release of 756,000 acre-feet. <br />2. Sufficient water to permit diversions through the Gunnison tunnel in any month that are equal <br />to or greater than the maximum recorded diversions for that month since completion of the <br />Taylor Park Reservoir in 1937. <br /> <br />B-7 <br /> <br />3This is a separate document submitted after the legislative hearings. It is not included in <br />the six volume set referenced earlier. <br /> <br />;". .~ 1 . .. . <br />