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<br />t ' <br /> <br />') <br /> <br />occurred. The total volume released during January was 45,400 acre-feet. <br /> <br />Western Area Power Administration (Western) renewed its request for additional generation during <br />the month of February. Reclamation has allocated approximately 13,800 acre-feet of additional <br />releases that potentially could be called upon during the month of February to provide additional <br />generation capability to Western. The additional generation capability is restricted to a single peak <br />each day with a maximum generation rate of 72 MW (-2400 cfs). The minimum instantaneous <br />release rate is restricted to 800 cfs and the ramping rate is restricted to 25 MWlhour (-800 cfslhour). <br />The peak will likely occur during the late morning hours. These hourly fluctuations do fall within <br />the limitations described in the Reasonable and Prudent Alternative of the 1992 Biological Opinion <br />on the Operation of Flaming Gorge Dam. This special request has been approved to help Western <br />meet its contractual obligations during the experimental flow testing being conducted at Glen <br />Canyon Dam. Western will only call upon this additional generation when adverse market <br />conditions exist for purchasing power on the open market. <br /> <br />The 2003 Water Supply Forecast for Flaming Gorge has been updated to 650,000 acre-feet (55% of <br />normal). The snowpack conditions of the Upper Green River Basin on February 6th were 74% of <br />normal. Based on the Water Supply Forecast, the elevation of Flaming Gorge Reservoir will likely <br />increase somewhat this spring ending July somewhere in the range of 6015 feet above sea level. <br /> <br />The next "Flaming Gorge Working Group" meeting is to be held on April 10th, 2003 in Vernal, Utah <br />at 10:00 am. at the Western Park Convention Center. Working Group meetings are scheduled in <br />January, April and September each year to discuss past, present and future operations at Flaming <br />Gorge Dam. Those who are interested in the operation of Flaming Gorge and those who would like <br />to voice their concerns are encouraged to attend these meetings. For more information about the <br />Working Group please contact Ed Vidmar at 801-379-1182. <br /> <br />ASPINALL - January unregulated inflow into Blue Mesa Reservoir was 18,000 acre-feet or 71 <br />percent of average. Hydrologic conditions remain dry with precipitation during the month of <br />Jan!Jary recorded at only 30 percent of normal. On February 10, 2003 the basin snowpack was <br />averag!ne 71 percent. The average stream flOW is still much below normal and wiUprobably stay <br />That way into the spring runoff. The current inflow rate into Blue Mesa Reservoir is about 220 cfst <br />which is about half of what it normal is this time of year. Reservoir releases are averaging about 180 <br />cfs. Blue Mesa's present elevation is 7446.46 feet, which corresponds to a storage content of about <br />293,000 acre-feet. Generally, reservoir storage is making slight daily gains of about 200 acre-feet <br />per day. <br /> <br /> <br />On February 5, 2003, the National Weather service's River Forecast Center issued an inflow forecast <br />for Blue Mesa Reservoir for the April through July runoff period. This forecast is projectine a <br />volume runoff into the reservoir of 485,000 acre-feet. This represents a 67 percent of average <br />runoff for this time peri~ <br /> <br />Releases from Crystal Dam are currently set at 250 cfs. The Gunnison Diversion Tunnel has been <br />shut down for the winter With the exception of some small 60 to 100 cfs ~hour diversions taken at <br />intervals of every 3-4 weeks for municipal water needs. Due t9 the severity of the drought <br />. conditions in the basin, Black Canyon flows for this season are set at the current flow rate of 250 cfs. <br />When Uncompahgre Valley Water Users need to take their municipal water, releases from Crystal <br />