BOARD01164

• Board Meeting Date: 3/21/2006
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Basin states agreement. These three documents were sent to Secretary Norton on February 3, 2006.
Copies of these documents are attached as part of agenda item 6 for the March meeting.

It is recognized that as the Basin states and stakeholders continue through the scoping process that both
the preliminary proposal and the draft agreement will be refined and more detail added, and additional
agreements develop as necessary among the parties to implement the recommendations made to Interior.

.

The Preliminary Proposal Regarding Colorado River Interim Operations addresses the full range of
expected operations of both Lake Powell and Lake Mead. It identifies water surface elevations in both
Lake Powell and Lake Mead where the water releases from Glen Canyon Dam would be modified to
either conserve storage in Lake Powell or to attempt to balance the storage in the two reservoirs. The
conservation releases from Glen Canyon Dam are to protect critical water surface elevations in Lake
Powell and to avoid potential for a Compact Call that would curtail uses in the Upper Basin. Balancing
releases are to protect critical water surface elevations in Lake Mead and to reduce shortages in the Lower
Basin. In order to accomplish these objectives, the annual releases from Glen Canyon Dam will vary
from 7.0 mafto 9.5 mafunless Lake Powell is nearly full and equalization detennines reservoir
operations. The recommendation for making balancing releases is dependent on the Lower Basin
(primarily Arizona) taking certain levels of shortage at the same time balancing occurs. Balancing may
also occur when elevations in Lake Mead reach critical levels that threatened deliveries to Southern
Nevada from Lake Mead.

The recommendation also addresses system efficiency, extraordinary conservation and augmentation
projects. Svstem efficiencv oroiects are those projects that conserve, or salvage, water that is being lost to
the Colorado River System where there is not a Section 5 Boulder Canyon Project Act water service
contract associated with the use of the water that is being lost. An example of such a project is the
conservation, or salvage, of water that is currently flowing to Mexico, that is above the United States' .
delivery requirement to Mexico in accordance with the 1944 Mexican Water Treaty. Extraordinarv
conservation oroiects are associated with the conservation of water that is being lost to the Colorado River
System where there ~ a Section 5 Boulder Canyon Project Act water service contract associated with the
use of the water that is being lost. An example of an extraordinary conservation project is the fallowing of
a parcel of land within an irrigation district that has had a history of use. Augmentation oroiects are
projects that provide additional water for use within the Colorado River System.

The Basin states have proposed that the Secretary develop a policy and accounting procedure that allows
water that is conserved through extraordinary conservation measures or efficiency projects or that is
imported into the Colorado River System from non-Colorado River sources to be transferred to the
project beneficiary through Articles 11(8)(2) and II(B)(6) of the 1964 Decree in Arizona v. California.
The Basin states have suggested that a mechanism, which could be used, to allow this to occur would be
through the concept of creating "Intentionally Created Surplus" (lCS) credits. In a specific year through
forbearance agreements, these ICS credits could be used by the Section 5 contractor in addition to the
water that was apportioned to the contractor.

The Basin states proposal also recognizes the desirability of being able to have exchanges of water
between and among the Lower Division states. Thus, the proposal would allow a Section 5 Boulder
Canyon Project Act contractor in one Lower Division state to secure an additional water supply by
funding the development of a non-Colorado River System water supply in another Lower Division state.
The new non-Colorado River water supply developed would be consumptively used in the State in which
it was developed by a contractor and that contractor would intentionally reduce its consumptive use of
Colorado River water. This would allow the contractor in the other Lower Division state that provided the
funding for development of the non-Colorado River water supply to consumptively use the Colorado .
River water that was intentionally unused. An example of such a project would be the construction of a

18