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<br />Q02233 <br /> <br />rights and agricultural districts) which could keep the Colorado River Aqueduct full without <br />requiring additional surplus deliveries. The Six States fully anticipate and expect that the water <br />use of the more senior agricultural users will be carefully monitored by California and the Bureau <br />of Reclamation and to the .extent the irrigation districts do not use water within their contract <br />entitlements, that water will be made available to MWD, thereby reducing the need for surplus <br />releases from Lake Mead. <br />Likewise, to the extent that unused Arizona or Nevada basic apportionment can be made <br />available to California users under the provisions of Article II(B)6 of the Decree, that water also <br />must be counted against MWD' s needs prior to determining the need for any surplus water <br />derived under the interim criteria. <br />8.) To the extent that these interim criteria operate to provide extra water to municipal <br />and industrial water users in Southern California, municipal and industrial water users in the other <br />Lower Division States must be afforded the same opportunity, within the allocations defined by <br />the Law of the River. For example, if the Secretary declares a surplus, it must be recognized that <br />municipal and industrial water users in Nevada and Arizona would also be entitled to water above <br />the states' basic apportionments to meet their needs. <br />9.) The Six States are well aware that the revised Draft 4.4 Plan calls for a <br />considerable amount of groundwater banking within California at sites in the Cadiz Basin, <br />Hayfield/Chuckwalla Basin, and Desert/Coachella Basin. These proposals will depend upon the <br />availability of surplus Colorado River water. The Six States are concerned that under some <br />circumstances these off stream banking proposals will lower reservoir levels to the point where <br />the following year a "space building" type surplus will not be declared. The interim operating <br />criteria proposed in the Draft 4.4 Plan insulates MWD from the effects of this condition by merely <br />triggering a "Level 2 surplus" which still will keep the Colorado River Aqueduct full. The Six <br />States believe that off stream banking of surplus water must be limited to only those years when a <br />reservoir spill would otherwise be imminent. <br /> <br />5 <br />