WSP12932

• File Number: 8282.600.40
• Description: Colorado River AOP Status Report
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Author: USDOI/BOR
• Title: Colorado River Reservoir Operations Status Reports Partial Part 1 2004
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Data

The last meeting of the "Aspinall Unit Working Group" was on Thursday, January 22,2004 at 1:00
PM in Montrose, Colorado. At this meeting, review oflast summer and fall reservoir operations, and
plans for next winter and spring 2004 operations were discussed. These meetings are open forum
discussions on the Aspinall Unit reservoir operations with many interested groups participating.
Anyone needing further information about these meetings should contact Dan Crabtree in the Grand
Junction Area Office at [phone].

NA V AJO - Reclamation decreased the release from Navajo Reservoir from 400 cubic feet per
second (cfs) to 250 cfs, on Monday, November 3,2003. All reservoir releases are made for the
authorized purposes ofthe Navajo Unit, and to attempt to maintain a target base flow through the
endangered fish critical habitat reach of the San Juan River (Farmington to Lake Powell).

Based upon current hydrological conditions and historical hydrologic data, the target base flow
should remain above 440 cfs through the critical habitat area. The target base flow is calculated as
the weekly average of gauged flows throughout the critical habitat area, therefore daily flows of less
than 440 cfs may occur at some gages. This scheduled release is subject to changes in river flows
and weather conditions.

Inflow into Navajo Reservoir continues to be very low. Unregulated reservoir inflow for January
was 15,000 acre-feet, or 66 percent of average. The current reservoir inflow is averaging about 200
cfs. Presently, the reservoir water surface elevation is 5995.83 feet, which corresponds to a storage
content of about 706,000 acre-feet. The monthly precipitation average in the basin above Bluff was
85 percent of average for January. The basin wide snowpack on February 10 was 96 percent of
normal for the Animas River basin, and 107 percent of normal for the upper San Juan River basin.

On February 4,2004, the National Weather Service's River Forecast Center issued an inflow
forecast for Navajo Reservoir for the April through July runoff period. This forecast is projecting a
volume runoff into the reservoir of855,000 acre-feet. This represents a 107 percent of normal
runoff for the Upper San Juan River Basin. Although this seems like a break from the drought of
recent years it wouldn't take but a few months of dry weather to put the drought back into the
picture.

A public meeting on Navajo Reservoir operations was held on Tuesday, January 20, 2004 at 1 :00
PM in Farmington, New Mexico. At this meeting, review oflast summer and fall reservoir
operations, and plans for next winter and spring 2004 operations were discussed. These are open
forum discussions on the operation of Navajo Reservoir with many interested groups participating.
Anyone interested in the general operation of the reservoir is encouraged to attend. Please contact
Pat Page in Reclamation's Durango, Colorado Office at [phone] for information about these
meetings or the daily operation of Navajo Reservoir.

Glen Canvon Dam - Lake Powell

Operations - Experimental Flows

Daily high fluctuating releases from Glen Canyon Dam, as part ofthe Glen Canyon Dam
experimental flows, are being implemented from January through March 2004. From January 1,
2004 through February 3, 2004, releases ranged between a high of 20,000 cubic feet per second (cfs)
to a low of 5,000 cfs, 7 days a week with the 20,000 cfs high being maintained for about 9 hours