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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Colorado River Annual Operating Plan: A meeting to continue developing the Annual Operating <br />Plan for Colorado River Reservoirs was held on Aug. 5 in Las Vegas. The major topic continues to be <br />progress on the California Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA). An either-or AOP for 2003 will <br />be prepared and California's progress on the QSA will determine whether or not the Interim Operating <br />Criteria continue to guide the AOP process or are temporarily suspended pending completion ofthe <br />QSA. Ifthe interim criteria are suspended, operations would be guided by the existing coordinated <br />long-range operating criteria and a "normal" operation declared for 2003, Under "normal" conditions, <br />MWD would not receive any surplus and would have to implement already approved dry year options in <br />order to keep their aqueduct as full as possible. A "normal" operation would eliminate any surplus for <br />Nevada and Arizona as welL <br /> <br />Coordinated Long-Range Operating Criteria: Reclamation requested comments on whether or not <br />the Criteria should be reviewed back in January and March 2002. Reclamation received 16 comment <br />letters regarding the 6th review of the Criteria. Twelve of the letters stated that no review ofthe Criteria <br />were necessary at this time. Only two letters, one from the National Park Service and one joint letter <br />from eight environment groups requested changes. Most of the changes requested related to additions <br />those organizations felt were needed because of legislation enacted since the Criteria were promulgated <br />in 1970. Reclamation intends to issue a Federal Register notice in late August that contains their <br />response to the comment& received, They then plan to hold public consultations meetings in September, <br />with a draft position available in November. They anticipate a Federal Register notice describing the <br />proposed action in December with a Secretarial decision in February 2003. Reclamation is soliciting <br />additional comments through October 2002. The reasons for this extended schedule are not completely <br />clear, but we suspect it has to do with how to incorporate reference to the interim guidelines. <br /> <br />Colorado River Delta -Technical Group: The Technical Workgroup established by the Seven Basin <br />States met on Aug. 2 in Las Vegas. The Workgroup has undertaken two tasks, The first is to <br />sUlllffiarize the surface water and groundwater resources available to Mexico in an effort to develop a <br />water budget and help understand and identify possible independent steps that Mexico could take to <br />improve conditions for the Colorado River Delta. The second task is to develop a "Broad Brush <br />Concept Document" that identifies possible water supplies available to meet the identified needs ofthe <br />Colorado River Delta. The next step will be to categorize the various alternatives into groups and <br />identify the pros and cons of each alternative. This information will then be discussed among the seven <br />basin states before any recommendations are offered to the International Boundary and Water <br />Commission. <br /> <br />Glen Canyon Adaptive Management: The Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Workgroup <br />(AMWG) has recommended an experimental flow test similar to the 1996 Beach\Habitat Building Flow <br />(BHBF) in which releases from Glen Canyon Dam were made in excess of power plant capacity to test <br />the ability of those operations to conserve sediment resources and provide benefits to other resources. <br />The AMWG will forward that recommendation to Secretary ofInterior Norton. The recommendation <br />will offer four release options depending upon hydrologic conditions and sediment inputs into Colorado <br />River from the LCR and Paria Rivers during the late summer and fall monsoon season. That sediment <br />input is what the experimental releases will attempt to mobilize to rebuild beaches and help benefit <br />endangered fishes, <br /> <br />The primary purpose of the Water Year 2002-2003 experimental flows are to improve retention of <br />sediment resources in the Colorado River Ecosystem and to benefit native fish, primarily the endangered <br />humpback chub. The secondary purpose of the experiment is to improve the Lees Ferry trout fishery <br />through reductions in Rainbow Trout densities, which are expected to improve growth rates and health <br />of the remaining trout and preserve the blue ribbon character of that fishery. <br /> <br />15 <br />