BOARD01267

• Board Meeting Date: 11/16/2004
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

COLORADO RIVER WATER USERS ASSOCIATION (CRWUA)
RESOLUTION 2005 -
Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) Drought

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The United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and the Western Area Power
Administration (Western) should implement cost-cutting measures and strategies to improve the
status of the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund and stabilize the CRSP power rate, and to work in
partnership with the CRSP customers to develop an operational, financial, and rate-setting
strategy that addresses the drought situation, creates a sustainable cash flow and maintains a
viable power rate.

The Colorado River Water Users Association encourages the passage of federal legislation
which would make available non-reimbursable appropriations to the USBR and Western, to ensure
ongoing funding of CRSP operations and other required annual funding obligations.

Position Statement
Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) Drought

The federal Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) hydropower and delivery systems
were authorized by Congress to provide a wide range of significant benefits to millions of citizens
in the West, including:

. Flood Control
. Irrigation
. Municipal water supply
. Interstate and international compact water deliveries
. Lake and stream recreation
. Blue ribbon trout fisheries
. River regulation
. Economic development
. Fish and wildlife propagation and mitigation
. Power generation and transmission

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The Colorado River Basin is entering its sixth year of drought conditions.

Lake Powell water storage is at the lowest since it filled in 1980, and is approaching the
level where power generation will cease.

Funding for repayment of federal investment in the CRSP storage features and
participating irrigation projects, and the operation and maintenance of the CRSP facilities and staff
of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and the Western Area Power Administration (Western)
is provided through power revenues maintained in the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund.

A portion of the costs associated with the Colorado River Salinity Control program, the
Glen Canyon Adaptive Management Program and the Upper Basin Endangered Fish Recovery
Programs are funded through the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund.

A combination of reduced generation from the CRSP, costs associated with environmental
programs and experiments, and wholesale power market conditions has resulted in unstable, non-
sustainable cash flow conditions in the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund.

The effective CRSP power rate is increasing while resource deliveries are declining.

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Resolution 2005 CRWUA draft 110504