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<br /> <br />2001 08:10 <br /> <br />71 94813452 <br /> <br />PAGE 01 <br /> <br />7.21-01 <br />Mana .For: OBle Norton, <br />Bonnett Raley, Con&reesional <br />Committees, Western GOWlmo/l. <br /> <br />(Revised 7-21-01) <br /> <br />,:::'1'1> <br /> <br />Susseft ~ wly &dtral evalll8lion <br />"ftho West'. overlooked headwater <br />reservoir polenlial. ,Q., <br /> <br />JlJly 18,24101 <br /> <br />Westem States Are Flushillt!: Tbeir Water Futures <br /> <br />Western states with high mOWltain ranges shQuld pump some of their wasted wet year <br />snowmelt into oft'-channel. glacier-earved reservoir sites. These conserved flood waters <br />would then be readily available for flexible gravity delivery to multiple river basins, <br />when and where needed during the destructive multi.year droughts. <br /> <br />Engineers know from Hydrology 101 that high, off-channel reservoirs in heavy <br />snowmelt areas can greatly increase the quality and utility of limited surface water <br />supplies throushout entire regions. In fact, the bertetlt-cost advantages of headwater <br />resetVoirs can be many times greater than traditional river dams, <br /> <br />Conventional reservoirs eventually fill with silt, concerttrate salts and other pollutants, <br />harm river ecosystems, and cause excessive evaporation losses. About 7 feet evaporates <br />annually from the surface ofLake POWell vs, only I V. feet from off.channel western <br />reservoirs above 10,000 feet. <br /> <br />Unfortunately, extremist pressures and institutional inertia have prevented state and <br />federal agencies from even considering headwater reservoirs as a reasonable altemative <br />for the West's growing water crisis. Even worse, these uninformed agencies have been <br />recklessly adopting misguided policies that are permanently flushing the overlooked <br />potential of headwater storage for all western states down the proverbial river. <br /> <br />For example, Colorado River Endangered Fish could be automatically recovered with <br />optimal river flows gUlll'l\l1teed from high altitude reservoirs. Regrettably, the short <br />sighted federal bypass flow program to mimic natl.ll'al flow conditions was implemented <br />without first considerini the devastatilli environmental and economic impacts on <br />development of high storage alternatives for drought protection of river basins on both <br />sides of the Divide. This multi.billion dollar federal.state oversight should be <br />immediately COJTected, 8$ a serious violation of the N aliona! Environmental Policy Act <br />(NEPA). <br /> <br />The recent landmark decision that gave federal hydropower rights at Blue Mesa <br />Reservoir veto power over Colorado's right to store state waters at high altitude is also a <br />serious water supply threat to Colorado and all western states. Ironically, high storage <br />of slUlllus runoffs above Blue Mesa would greatly increase clean, renewable <br />hydropower generation from several federal dams on the Colorado River during critical <br />drouabt cyclcs. <br /> <br />A new federal riiht to double fill and drain Colorado's Taylor Park Reservoir to <br />enhance fish irowth below the dam is another unprecedented policy blow against <br />western high storage opportunities. An impartial inquiry would quickly show the <br />