Special Report of the Operations Secretary

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To provide express authorization for continued operation of John Martin in this manner, it is suggested that the Operations Committee recommend adoption of an amendment to the 1980 Operating Plan to add the following to Section II B (3): "Similarly, releases of conservation storage into accounts specified in Section II D shall be suspended following a rainfall / runoff event during a period of conservation storage sufficient to cause all Colorado Water District 67 ditches and Kansas to request that releases from their accounts be discontinued, until the first request for release of account water by a Colorado Water District 67 ditch or by Kansas or beginning 48 hours after the discontinuance of all account releases, whichever occurs first." Winter transfers #43 In October of 1997, it was determined that the requirements for commencement of conservation storage (Section II B (1) of the 1980 Operating Plan) were satisfied, resulting in the accumulation of 4,433 a. f. in conservation storage by the end of the 1997 Compact Year, despite transfers into accounts initiated on October 27, 1997 in accordance with Section II B (3). A decision was made to suspend further releases into accounts at that time because if there had been the same quantity of water in the conservation pool prior to adoption of the 1980 Operating Plan, the provisions of Compact Article V A would have precluded such a release of water from the reservoir. Following the same reasoning, the further transfer of 34,458 a.f. of conservation storage remaining on October 31, 1999 was suspended. There appears to be no express provision to cover this situation in the 1980 Operating Plan; therefore, as suggested in the 1999 Report of the Operations Secretary, it is recommended that the Operations Committee recommend an amendment to the "Resolution Concerning an Operating Plan for John Martin Reservoir" to include a new subsection II D (4) as follows: "In the event that any conservation storage has not been released into accounts as of November 1 of any year, further release shall be suspended until such time as is provided for according to Section II A herein." Commencement of a shill event #50 Based on its interpretation of language in Section II G of the 1980 Operating Plan, it is Kansas's position that the accounting of water spilled from John Martin Reservoir should be triggered by the occurrence of water "physically [flowing] over the project's spillway." It is Colorado's position that Kansas ignores the provisions of Article IV C. (2) and (3) of the Compact, which provide as follows: (2) The bottom of the flood control storage is presently fixed by the Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army, at elevation 3,851 above mean sea level. The flood control storage will be operated for flood control purposes and to those ends will impound or regulate the stream flow volumes that are in excess of the then available storage capacity of the conservation pool. Releases from the -14-