BOARD00791

• Board Meeting Date: 3/22/2005
• Description: WSP Section - Colorado River Issues
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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STATE OF COLORADO

Colorado Water Conservation Board

Department of Natural Resources
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
www.cwcb.state.co.us

Bill Owens
Governor

To:

CWCB Membe~D.I'

Rod Kuharich ~
Randy Seaholm
Ted Kowalski

Russell George
Executive Director

From:

Rod Kuharich
CWCB Director

Dan McAuliffe
Deputy Director

Date: March 14,2005

Re: Agenda Item 24, March 22-23, 2005 Board Meeting, Water Supply Protection-
Colorado River Issues

Backl!round
As we have discussed at recent Board meetings, five years of drought in the Colorado River Basin
have resulted in very low reservoir levels. Currently, Lake Mead contains 60% oflive storage
capacity, whereas Lake Powell is at 34% oflive storage capacity and is well below the 602(a) storage
level of3630 (14.85 MAF). 602(a) storage is the amount of storage required in Upper Basin (DB)
reservoirs to assure that DB uses do not cause deliveries to the Lower Basin (LB) to fall below a 10-
year running average of 75 million acre-feet (MAF). Depending on releases out of Lake Powell, and
future hydrologic conditions that are below average, Lake Powell could drop below the minimum
power pool within the next few years. If Lake Powell goes below minimum power pool, not only is
hydropower generation at the Lake lost, but so are revenues for the Upper Basin fund for project
prepayment and environmental programs, such as the endangered fish recovery programs, as well as
operating funds for significant portions of Reclamation and the Western Area Power Administration.

Tributary uses in the Lower Basin ("LB") are in excess of the additional1.0 MAF provided for under
the Compact and, based on the most recent consumptive uses and losses data for the period 1996-
2000, total an estimated 2.508 MAF. On average, the annual amount of tributary inflow to the
Colorado River mainstem in the LB even with the additional uses is around 1.3 MAP. Recent
estimates of tributary inflows in the LB to date this year indicate at least that much has already
occurred and there are still seven months left in the water year.

2005 Annual Operatinl! Plan mid-year review
A mid-year review of the 2005 Annual Operating Plan ("AOP") is planned to determine if the
current reservoir levels and runoff forecast warrant a reduction in releases from Lake Powell and
other reservoirs for the remainder of the water year. There are two meetings scheduled with the
Department of Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation regarding this mid-year review of the AOP,
one on March 29, 2005 and one on April 18, 2005. The State of Colorado, along with New Mexico,
Utah and Wyoming, absent a seven state position, intends to request a reduction of the annual
Flood Protection. Water Supply Planning and Finance' Stream and Lake Protection
Water Supply Protection. Conservation and Drought Planning