Special Report of the Operations Secretary

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water users upstream from the reservoir may divert without regard to the decreed priorities in Colorado below the reservoir The storage of water in the conservation pool is controlled by various terms of the Compact. For example, Article V A provides that during the period of winter storage, beginning on November 1" of each year, all water entering the reservoir up to the limit of the available conservation capacity is to be stored, with the limited exception that Colorado may demand releases not to exceed 100 c.fs. Otherwise, no releases of water from the conservation pool be made are authorized until at least April l st of the succeeding year, according to Article V B. When the Arkansas River Compact Administration adopted the 1980 Operating Plan, authorizing accounts for the ditches in Colorado Water District 67 and Kansas, it attempted to mirror the provisions of the Compact in many respects. For example, Section II C (1) of the 1980 Operating Plan states: "For the purposes of Compact Article V.F. the conservation pool shall be deemed exhausted whenever conservation storage has been completely released into the accounts." Releases from the conservation pool under the Compact and releases (or transfers, if you will) of conservation storage into accounts under the 1980 Operating Plan have the same affect on storage in the conservation pool and, thus, when the conservation pool will be deemed exhausted. Thus, to prevent the water users upstream from John Martin Reservoir from being affected by the decrees of the ditches in Colorado Water District 67 more frequently than would be the case under the Compact, the release of conservation storage into accounts must be suspended or interrupted under circumstances when releases of water from the conservation pool would have been suspended or interrupted prior to the adoption of the 1980 Operating Plan. This administration is necessary to insure that water users upstream from John Martin Reservoir receive the benefits they are entitled to under the Compact. Summer transfers #42 Section II B (3) of the 1980 Operating Plan recognizes the principle of conserving conservation storage by providing for a potential 48 -hour delay between the commencement of conservation storage and the transfer into accounts. This provision is recognition of the fact that at times during the summer storage season regional thunderstorms that are of sufficient magnitude to warrant conservation storage are also sufficient to satisfy irrigation demands for a period of time and thus would have resulted in the deferral of releases from the conservation pool under the terms of the Compact. Based on this rationale, it has been the practice of the Operations Secretary to suspend transfers of conservation storage into accounts for a period of up to 48 hours during a period of conservation storage following a rain event sufficient to eliminate preexisting demands for the release of account water. -13-