Annual Operating Plan For Colorado River Reservoirs 2004

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I IJanuary 7, 2004 28 ' apportionment for calendar year 2004 at this time. However, if any unused apportionment is available the Secretary shall allocate any available unused apportionment for calendar year 2004 in accordance with Article II(B)(6) of the Decree and Section 1(B) of the Interim Surplus Guidelines. I 1 n In accordance with 43 CFR Part 414 (Offstream Storage of Colorado River Water; Development and Release of Intentionally Created Unused Apportionment in the Lower Division States: Final Rule), Intentionally Created Unused Apportionment (ICUA) may be made available by a Lower Division state for use in another Lower Division state via a Storage and Interstate Release Agreement (SIRA) with the Secretary. On December 18, 2002, the United States, acting through the Secretary of the Interior, executed a SIRA with the Arizona Water Banking Authority (AWBA), the Southern Nevada Water Authority, and the Colorado River Commission of Nevada. Assuming all requirements are met, the Secretary will make up to 20,000 acre -feet of ICUA available to the consuming entity (Southern Nevada Water Authority) from the storing entity (Arizona Water Banking Authority) in 2004. A SIRA is currently under development between AWBA and MWD. Consistent with Section 5(B) of the Interim Surplus Guidelines, surplus determinations under Section 2(B)(1) Partial Domestic Surplus and Section 2(B)(2) Full Domestic Surplus were suspended on January 1, 2003. The suspension of surplus determinations under Sections 2(B)(1) and 2(B)(2) of the Interim Surplus Guidelines remained in effect until October 10, 2003, at which time California completed all required actions pursuant to Section 5(B) of the Interim Surplus Guidelines. Consistent with Section 5(B) of the Interim Surplus Guidelines, the interim surplus determinations under Sections 2(B)(1) and 2(B)(2) were reinstated on October 10, 2003. The October 10, 2003 Colorado River Water Delivery Agreement provides for California to make the water use reductions reflected in Section 5(C) of the Interim Surplus Guidelines. Consistent with Section 7 of the Interim Surplus Guidelines, the August 2003 24 -Month Study was ' used to project the system storage and projected uses on January 1, 2004. Based on this projection, the Partial Domestic Surplus will govern releases for use in the States of Arizona, Nevada, and ' California during calendar year 2004 in accordance with Article III(3)(b) of the Operating Criteria and Article II(B)(2) of the Decree, subject to Section 5(C) of the Interim Surplus Guidelines. 0 u n 0 Given the limitation of available supply, and the low inflow amounts within the Colorado River basin, the Secretary, through Reclamation, will continue to review Lower Basin operations to assure that all deliveries and diversions of mainstream water are in strict accordance with the Decree, applicable statutes, contracts, rules, and agreements. For informational purposes, the natural inflow required to reach a Quantified Surplus (70R value strategy) on January 1, 2004, is 34.0 maf (41,939 mcm), which has been exceeded in the historical record less than 1 percent of the time. As provided in Article IV(1) of the Interim Surplus Guidelines, the 70R strategy involves assuming a 70 percent nonexceedance inflow into Lake Powell, subtracting out the consumptive uses and system losses and checking the results to see if all of the water could be stored or if flood control releases from Lake Mead would be required. If flood control releases from Lake Mead would be required, additional water is made available to the Lower