The Secretary of the Interior - Washington - CO River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and the Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead

• Year: 2007
• Title: The Secretary of the Interior - Washington - CO River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and the Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead
• CWCB Section: Interstate & Federal
• Description: The Secretary of the Interior - Washington - CO River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and the Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

Interim Guidelines for the
Operation of Lake Powell
and Lake Mead
Record of Decision
Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages
and the Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead
Final Environmental Impact Statement
(November 2007)
Introduction
The Colorado River Basin (Basin) is in the eighth year of drought -the worst eight year
period in over a century of continuous recordkeeping. Reservoir elevations have
declined over this period and the duration of this ongoing, historic drought is unknown.
This is the first long-term drought in the modern history of the Colorado River,
although climate experts and scientists suggest droughts of this severity have occurred
in the past and are likely to occur in the future. The Colorado River provides water to
two nations, and to users within seven western states. With over 27 million people
relying on the Colorado River for drinking water in the United States, and over 3.5
million acres of farmland in production in the Basin, the Colorado River is the single
most important natural resource in the Southwest.
The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) has a unique role on the Colorado River
charged with management of a vast system of dams and reservoirs that have provided
water for the development of the Southwest.
Under these conditions, conflict over water is unsurprising and anticipated. Declining
reservoir levels in the Basin led to interstate and inter-basin tensions. As the agency
charged with management of the Colorado River, the Department of the Interior
(Department) had not yet developed operational rules for the full range of operations at
Lake Powell and Lake Mead because these types of low-reservoir conditions had simply
not yet occurred.
Against this background, at the direction of the Secretary, the Department initiated a
public process in May of 2005 to develop additional operational guidelines and tools to
meet the challenges of the drought in the Basin. While water storage in the massive
reservoirs afforded great protection against the drought, the Department set a goal to
have detailed, objective operational tools in place by the end of 2007 in order to be
ready to make informed operational decisions if the reservoirs continued to decline.
During the public process, a unique and remarkable consensus emerged in the basin
among stakeholders including the Governor's representatives of the seven Colorado
River Basin States (Basin States). This consensus had a number of common themes:
encourage conservation, plan for shortages, implement closer coordination of operations
of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, preserve flexibility to deal with further challenges such
ROD -Colorado River Interim Guidelines for December 2007
Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated 1
Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead