SWSIReportSept2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ARKANSAS BASIN Basinwide Conditions Assessment The SWSI value of -1.0 indicates that for August the basin water supplies were slightly below normal. Flow at the gaging station Arkansas River near Portland was 582 cts, as compared to the long-term average of 954 cfs. Storage in Turquoise, Twin Lakes, Pueblo, and John Martin reservoirs totaled 71 % of normal as of the end of August. August continued a trend of lower than normal 'precipitation in the Arkansas Basin with very iittie relief from monsoon pattems. However, judicious use of stored Winter Water and Fry-Ark Project Imports by the canal' companies helped to provide adequate agricultural water supplies for a much-improved growing season over what has been seen over the past several years. Administrative/Manaqement Concerns August marked the delivery of approximately 1,575 acre-feet to the Offset Account against the projected stateline deficit. This delivery was made possible by a lease of fully consumable waters to the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District by the Pueblo Board of Water Works. Low flows in the Arkansas River through Pueblo in late August triggered curtailment of some exchanges into Pueblo Reservoir according to the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between the City of Puebio and exchanging entities such as Pueblo Board of Water Works, Colorado Springs Utiliiies, the City of Aurora aniiothers, ASsociated with this IGA are complications of additional reservoir operations, additional accounting, routing of curtailed exchange waters to alternate storage which have placed a large additional administrative burden on DWR personnel. The IGA Flow Management Committee has been asked to meet to discuss ways to mitigate this burden. From the middle of July through the first two weeks of August, the Bureau of Reclamation made releases of Fry- Ark Project water of up to 275 cfs out of Twin Lakes to augment rafting flows on the upper Arkansas, The Pueblo Board of Water Works joined the Bureau in this effort by reieasing 125 cfs from Clear Creek Reservoir. The Bureau and the Board released a total of about 6,100 acre-feet and 3,900 acre-feet respectively to honor this voluntary flow program that has worked very well for the recreation interests of the upper Valley. Following a 4.9 magnitude earthquake near Trinidad Reservoir, the Army Corps of Engineers requested a short duration gate cut on August 11 to inspect the outlet works for damage. No problems were found and the release was restarted within less than two hours with very little impact on the river. Public Use Imoacts The Twin Lakes Reservoir and Canal Company cooperated with organizers of the Leadville Trail 100 foot race near Leadville to reduce flows in Lake Creek below the Twin Lake tunnel, where participants cross Lake Creek. TLRCC shut down the tunnel during the race in the interest of the participants' safety. Sep-05 -~ , ~ ~ >, ~ "., ~,: . . ____Jon.OI)J.>oI_.-.oJ~JoI>OS ~- ~ R\.fR rR rom,AI\Q FI..ON B'( W1.1ER 'fEAR ,= = ~ / / / ~ - / ~ e- , /. V I I ll'.(Ol,lXXJ l ". fIXl,OOJ ~ ~ w <m.Wl ~ ~ 4lJ,(DJ " " o O:l:rIbIl:a:J:nFebMrdl,bpiMJ;.l.reJ.tj!t.gSef:t -e-V\ET'(1914) ~""(2lt!) ~AV3 *3Jl5 REmES;NTAl1VE~RS ''''''' """ I"" . f- o . . ".. ~ """ .km"",,, ""'" IA\g.00'310:::rUns T_ lit C&'31Xl5 c:cmns Tw'nLS<e5 4