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@ Glossary Arizona, Nevada, and California. Marketable Yield: the amount of water the United States can provide after meeting all other purposes of the Aspinall Unit. Megawatt Hour: a megawatt hour is 1,000 kilowatts of electricity used con- tinuously for one hour. It is equivalent to the amount of electricity used by about 330 homes during one hour. Natural Hydrograph: a river hydrograph (see "Hydrograph") representing the natural seasonal flows of a river without the moderating influence of human-cre- ated features (dams, canals, etc.); in many western streams, this will often be a bell- shaped curve, with snow-melt causing a peak flow in the spring or early summer months, and lower flow levels throughout the remainder of the year. Perfection: the process of meeting all of the legal requirements for establish- ing a legal right to the use of water. Once perfected, a conditional water right becomes an absolute water right. Prior Appropriation: also called "first in time, first in right," a method (used in many western states) of allocating water between competing users. In times of water scarcity, senior water rights are satisfied ahead of junior water rights. See defi- nitions for "Priority" and "Priority Date." A senior water user who wants to divert water from a surface or underground source of water may force the curtailment of upstream junior use; Lc. See "Call." - Priority: the seniority of a water right as determined by its adjudication date and/or its appropriation date. The priority of a water right determines its ability to divert in relation to other rights in periods of limited supply, Le., junior water rights defer to more senior water rights. Priority Date: the date of establishment of a water right. A non-technical term, a "priority date" can be the date of appropriation (when water is first put to use), the date of adjudication (when the court issues a water right decree), or the date when a user first intended to appropriate water (in the case of a conditional decree). Raw Water: untreated water. Re-operation: an investigation of the additional water supply or water tim- ing benefits that could result from the revised and more efficient usage of large water storage facilities, with an eye toward improving water supply reliability, environmen- tal benefits, or both. Re-regulation: in a multi-dam system, regulating the dramatic peak flows generated by upstream dams through the measured release of water from the dam far- thest downstream. .56. The L.and and Water Fund of the Rockies