9600

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9600
• Author: Brown and Caldwell.
• Title: Phase 2 Coordinated Facilities Water Availability Study for the Endangered Fishes of the Upper Colorado River - Final Report.
• USFW Year: 2003.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

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Committee; (2) one representative from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation); (3) one
representative from the Service; (4) two representatives from the water user community (one east
slope and one west slope); and (5) one representative from the environmental community. The
Executive Committee has sought advice and input from a Steering Committee, which consists of a
broader array of interests in the Recovery Program. The consultant team?and the CWCB made
drafts of this report available to the Executive Committee and any other interested person. In
addition, the consultant team and the CWCB held two public meetings, in Glenwood Springs and
Denver, to seek input into the study. Finally, members of the consultant team conducted numerous
one-on-one interviews with various interests to verify assumptions and information, critique
alternatives, and seek new alternatives.
1.3 BACKGROUND
The Service and the Recovery Program have been working on 'a number of initiatives to secure water
to augment spring flows to the 15-Mile Reach. The Coordinated Reservoir Operations program
(CROPS) was implemented as a coordinated interagency effort to provide discretionary bypasses of
inflow at major reservoirs in the basin to coincide with the natural spring peak. Augmentation of the
peak under CROPS can occur during slightly below average, average, and above average hydrologic
conditions.
The second initiative is the Coordinated Management of Colorado Water Division 5 Facilities pursuant
to the PBO, which is the subject-of -this-report. -This initiative is-intended-to assess water management
facilities and operations that can be further managed to benefit fish habitat primarily in the spring and
secondarily in the late summer and fall. The intent of the initiative is for project sponsors to secure a
firm water supply for project purposes, and to utilize any flexibility that may concurrently exist to
provide water for enhancement of the spring peak (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, December 20,
1999). The amount of water available, benefits, physical and legal constraints, and recommended
options will be determined through this analysis and presented to the Recovery Program.
The following discussion of the sources and amounts of water presently available for recovery of the
endangered fishes under the Recovery Implementation Program Recovery Action Plan (RIPRAP) is
presented in order to indicate the relationship of the 20,000 acre-feet to the other components of the
Recovery Program.
1.3.1 Late Summer and Fall Base Flow Period Augmentation
The RIPRAP will provide for late summer and fall base flow period augmentation from a number of
sources (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, April 1, 1999).
581 cfs instream flow right decreed to the CWCB (September 2, 1997 decree date) for
the 15-Mile Reach during July, August and September. This decree protects the
Orchard Mesa Irrigation District (OMID) hydraulic pump return flows and the Grand
Valley Power Plant return flows from being diverted out of the 15-Mile Reach.
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