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<br />respectively. August was very wet at 155 percent of average precipitation. September precipitation <br />- 1 <br />decreased to 119 percent of average. By the end of the water year, turbine releases were at 400 fr /s <br />and reservoir storage was 138,202 acre-feet, which was only 11,112 acre-feet above average. <br /> <br />The tot'}11997 water year undepleted inflow of 579,300 acre-feet was 205,280 acre-feet above the <br />1966-1995 average inflow of 374,020 acre-feet. Blue River, Dillon Reservoir, and Green Mountain <br />Reservoir operations for water year 1997 are summarized in <br />Table 2. <br /> <br />Gross generation at the Green Mountain Power Plant totaled 84,300,000 kilowatt-hours for water <br />year 1997. This gross generation was well above the average of 56,200,000 or 150 percent. The <br />high volume of power generated was due to the high runoff throughout the year. <br /> <br />Willow Creek Reservoir <br /> <br />Completed in 1953, Willow Creek Reservoir has a total storage capacity of 10,600 acre-feet. The <br />uncontrolled spillway, located at the left abutment, has a capacity of 3,200 fe/so The Willow Creek <br />Feeder Canal begins at the left abutment with a capacity of 400 ft3/s for pumping to Granby <br />Reservoir. <br /> <br />Reservoir carryover storage coming into water year 1997 was 9,589 acre-feet. This carryover <br />storage was 729 acre-feet above the 30-year average. <br /> <br />October-January inflows were near average at 114 percent of average. Precipitation for the same <br />period was well above average at 149 percent of average. <br /> <br />The February 1 snow-water content was 179 percent of average, which resulted in an April-July <br />runoff forecast of 75,000 acre-feet. The March 1 snow-water content dropped to 159 percent of <br />average, therefore the April-July runoff forecast decreased to 70,000 acre-feet. <br /> <br />October through March precipitation in the Willow Creek watershed was estimated at 132 percent <br />of the 1966-1995 average, although the total for the month was extremely low. Snowpack water <br />content for the April 1 measurement was 127 percent of average, a significant drop from the <br />previous two months. The April-July snowmelt runoff forecast decreased substantially to <br />60,000 acre-feet. By contrast, inflows into the reservoir were 180 percent of average for March. <br /> <br />April inflows continued to be high at 131 percent of average. At the same time, precipitation was <br />also high at 156 percent of average, and the May 1 snowpack was 171 percent of average. The <br />May-July runoff forecast was 70,000 acre-feet. May precipitation was estimated at 183 percent of <br />average. Natural inflow remained high at 37,969 acre-feet, or 177 percent of average. Inflow <br />peaked at 1,425 fe/s on May 23, 1997. <br /> <br />June precipitation continued below average at 86 percent and inflow was average at 101 percent. <br />Inflow remained average for July at 100 percent, as it fell below 100 ft3/S by July 7. Granby <br />Reservoir maintained a constant discharge between late June and early July. Therefore, very little <br />water was pumped into Granby from Willow Creek Reservoir. Total April-July inflow was 49,314 <br />10 <br />