WSPC12728 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

?". ~ currently 6016.63 feet above sea level and is steadily increasing. The April through July Unregulated Inflow forecast, issued April 4, 2005, increased to 1,050,000 acre-feet (88% of normal). This was an increase of 50,000 acre-feet over the March forecast. Precipitation in the basin during the second half of March was above normal and the inflow volume for March was 113% of normal. Based on the new forecast, the reservoir elevation of Flaming Gorge will likely increase to approximately 6025 feet above sea level by August of2005, Releases will likely remain at 1000 cfs for the remainder of March, April and May. A peak release will be scheduled this spring to coincide with the peak flows on the Yampa River as described in the 1992 Biological Opinion on the Operation of Flaming Gorge Darn (1992 Biological Opinion). Currently the peak release is scheduled to have a duration of 24 days at powerplant capacity, The duration and timing of the peak release is subject to change as hydrologic conditions change throughout the season, Hourly fluctuating releases for power generation are occurring from Flaming Gorge Darn. These fluctuations are limited such that flows measured at the Jensen gage on the Green River do not deviate outside of a 25% window about the mean daily flow as described in the 1992 Biological Opinion. The next "Flaming Gorge Working Group" meeting is to be held on April 20th, 2005 in Vernal, Utah at 10:00 a.m. Please note that this date has changed from previously published dates, The location of the meeting will be at the Western Park Convention Center (302 East 200 South, Vernal, UT). The Working Group is a forum for information exchange between Reclamation and all other parties associated with the operation of Flaming Gorge Reservoir. The public is encouraged to attend and express their concerns and interests with regard to the operation of Flaming Gorge Reservoir. For more information about the Working Group please contact Ed Vidmar at 801-379-1182, ASPINALL - March unregulated inflow into Blue Mesa Reservoir was 29,000 acre-feet or 81 percent of average. Hydrologic conditions are improving as basin precipitation and snowpack continues to increase. On April 8,2005 the basin snowpack was averaging 132 percent. For most of last fall month's average precipitation was above normal. The wet trend continued through much of the winter, however March precipitation was below normal. Precipitation during March was recorded at 80 percent of average. The current inflow rate into Blue Mesa Reservoir is about 750 cfs and reservoir releases are averaging about 1,600 cfs. Blue Mesa's present elevation is 7466,0 feet, which corresponds to a storage content of about 409,000 acre-feet. On April 4, 2005, the National Weather Service's River Forecast Center issued an update for the seasonal runoff volume forecast for April through July. The forecast is for 770,000 acre-feet, or 107 percent of normal inflow into Blue Mesa for that time period. Based on this forecast, Blue Mesa Reservoir is estimated to fill during this year's spring runoff. Uncompahgre Valley Water Users (UVWU) started diverting water through the Gunnison Tunnel on March 28, 2005. Considering this operational change and the projected runoff forecast for the Gunnison River Basin, reservoir releases from Crystal Darn will be increasing. Starting on Saturday April 9, releases will be increased 125 cfs every 12 hours until full powerplant capacity is reached on Monday April 11, 2005. Current flows in the river below the Gunnison Diversion Tunnel are now 1,100 cfs. The next meeting of the "Aspinall Unit Working Group" will be held on Friday, April 22, 2005 at 1 :00 PM at Reclamation's Office in Grand Junction, Colorado. Review of last fall and winter reservoir operations, and plans for this spring and next summer 2005 operations will be discussed.