Platte River Endangered Species Program EAC

Home Browse Search

MEMORANDUM TO: Interested Parties FROM: Randy Seaholm Rick Brown DATE: November 11, 1999 c r?S 7 SUBJECT: Platte River Endangered Species Program Environmental Account Committee Meeting The following is a brief summary of the Environmental Account Committee (EAC) meeting held at Lake McConaughy on November 9, 1999. The purpose of the EAC is advise the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Environmental Account Manager, Sharon Whitmore, determine the appropriate use and objectives of the Environmental Account (EA) water during a given year and the appropriate release rates. The EAC will also help the EA manager develop an annual operating plan and report on the activities. As of October 1, 1999 Lake McConaughy was full per FERC restrictions and the EA was set at 100,000 AF (whenever McConaughy is at capacity the EA automatically goes to 100,000 either up or down). The criteria contained in the "Cooperative Agreement" identify the forthcoming water year 2000 as "wet year." However, the EAC concurs with NPPD and CNPPID that it should be considered a"very wet year." CNPPID and NPPD will propose modifications to the table of criteria to the Governance Committee to better define wet years and very wet years. As of October l, 1999 Lake McConaughy was at elevation 3259.2 and contained 1,571,100 AF of storage. The October through March Storable Natural Inflow is predicted to be 289,200 AF. The above average precipitation to date in 1999 has contributed to a full reservoir system on the North Platte and spills are likely. It was noted that both NPPD and CNPPID are running full canals (1800 cfs and 2500 cfs respectively) for power generation purposes and it is anticipated that the canal system will remain full through May 1 at least. Furthermore, based on preliminary estimates it appears that the USFW instream flow recommendations under very wet conditions will be exceeded from present to September 2000, except possibly during August. Given the high groundwater problems presently occurring in the critical habitat area it is unlikely that any of the EA water will be used this year although pulse flow shaping opportunities will be further investigated by the EA manager. . A conceptual draft of the EA Annual Operating Report (EA-AOP) was reviewed by the EAC. The draft report as presented simply reiterated much of the language in the "Cooperative Agreement." It was the recommendation of the EAC that the EA manager prioritize the needs and objectives that EA water is expected to satisfy during at least two or three seasons of the year.