Laserfiche WebLink
<br />35 <br /> <br />Blue Mesa minimum contents increase when such direct flow water rights at'e <br /> <br />asserted before making storage releases below target. <br /> <br /><Compare Scenarios <br /> <br />3 and 4, and Scenarios 5 and 6.> More importantly, asserting such rights <br /> <br />helps Blue Mesa storage recover more quickly after a dry year. Such <br /> <br />~irect flow rights pick up substantial inflows between Blue Mesa and <br /> <br />Morrow Point in such recovery years, leaving mainstream flows to fill Blue <br /> <br />Mesa with less releases below target for minimum stream flow purposes. <br /> <br />5. One tradeoff in supporting minimum stream flows with increased Blue <br /> <br />Mesa storage releases and/or direct flow water right priorities is some <br /> <br />reduction in hydropower diversions under the junior priority at the <br /> <br />Gunnison Tunnel. <br /> <br />Increasing the minimum stream flow criteria for Blue <br /> <br />Mesa storage releases means that more releases above target are considered <br /> <br />proprietary or are available in priority to a minimum stream flow priority <br /> <br />and are not available for junior hydropower diversions at the Tunnel. <br /> <br />More releases below target may create more storage space in Blue Mesa <br /> <br />which captures inflows that might have otherwise been bypassed and <br /> <br /> <br />divet'ted under the junior water right at the Tunnel. The assertion of <br /> <br />more senior direct flow water rights for MinimUM stream flow purposes also <br /> <br /> <br />pulls inflow gains between Blue Mesa and Crystal past the junior <br />hydropower right at the Tunnel. <br /> <br />6. Although there is some trade off, the average annual yield of the <br /> <br />junior hydropower right at the Tunnel is still substantial, ranging frOM <br /> <br />about 293,000 to 204,000 acre feet across the study scenarios. The <br /> <br />WBLA, Inc. 1909 Broadway, #3, Boulder, Colorado 80302 <br />