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<br />On May 5, 2004, the National Weather Service's River Forecast Center issued the forecasted inflow <br />for the April through July runoff period. The forecast is projecting a volume runoff into Blue Mesa <br />Reservoir of 460,000 acre-feet or 64 percent of average. This is the same volume of runoff projected <br />from April's seasonal forecast. Based on this forecast, Blue Mesa Reservoir is not expected to fill <br />this year. <br /> <br />Currently, releases from Crystal are set at 1100 cfs. The river flows below the Gunnison Diversion <br />Tunnel are about 350 cfs. Due to the severity of the continuing drought in the Gunnison River <br />Basin, river flows through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison have been set close to the minimum <br />flow rate of 300 cfs. It is anticipated that canyon flows will start to increase as downstream demands <br />pick up, which should start to increase sometime during the first part of June. <br /> <br />The last meeting of the "Aspinall Unit Working Group" was held on Thursday, April 22, 2004 at <br />1 :00 PM in Grand Junction, Colorado. At this meeting, review of last autumn and winter reservoir <br />operations, and plans for spring and summer 2004 operations were discussed. These meetings are <br />open forum discussions on the Aspinall Unit reservoir operations with many interested groups <br />participating. Anyone needing further information about these meetings should contact Dan <br />Crabtree in the Grand Junction Area Office at (970) 248-0652. <br /> <br />NA V AJO - Beginning April 1, 2004, the minimum allowable release from Navajo Reservoir was set <br />at 350 cubic feet per second (cfs). Releases are made for the authorized purposes ofthe Navajo <br />Unit, and to attempt to maintain a target base flow through the endangered fish critical habitat reach <br />of the San Juan River (Farmington to Lake Powell). As downstream tributary inflows to the San <br />Juan River decrease, releases will be increased as necessary. Subject to National Environmental <br />Policy Act (NEPA) compliance, the minimum allowable release of350 cfs will be in effect until <br />November 1,2004, or until a Record of Decision is received on the Navajo Reservoir Operations <br />Environmental Impact Statement, whichever comes first. Because of gate repair work at Navajo <br />Dam this spring, a spring peak release will not be made for endangered fish this year. <br /> <br />A Shortage Sharing Agreement (SSA) on the San Juan River has been developed by water users, <br />once again this year. The agreement calls for users to limit their water use and share in shortages in <br />the event a water shortage is realized. Minimum Target Base Flows for recovery of endangered fish <br />will be 400 cfs through October based on the 2004 SSA recommendations. The target base flows <br />will be reduced from 500 cfs to 400 cfs for the April through October period, if the Minimum <br />Probable forecast projects the July End-of-Month content of Navajo Reservoir to be below <br />1,000,000 acre-feet. <br /> <br />On May 5, 2004, the National Weather Service's River Forecast Center issued an inflow forecast for <br />Navajo Reservoir for the April through July runoffperiod. This forecast is projecting a volume <br />runoff into the reservoir of 625,000 acre-feet. This represents a 78 percent of normal runoff for the <br />Upper San Juan River Basin. Based on the 2004 Shortage Sharing rules, a shortage does not exist <br />under the May forecast. <br /> <br />Unregulated reservoir inflow for April was 149,000 acre-feet, or 86 percent of average. The current <br />daily reservoir inflow is averaging about 3,500 cfs and reservoir releases are set at 350 cfs. <br />Presently, the reservoir water surface elevation is 6020.04 feet, which corresponds to a storage <br />content of about 912,000 acre-feet. The monthly precipitation average in the basin above Bluffwas <br />only 190 percent of average for April. The basin wide snowpack on May 10, 2004 was 78 percent of <br />normal for the Animas River basin, and 81 percent of normal for the upper San Juan River basin. <br />