BOARD01877

• Board Meeting Date: 1/12/1998
• Description: WSP Section - Colorado River Issues - Proposed Federal Rule - Offstream Storage of Colorado River Water and Interstate Redemption of Storage Credits in the Lower Division States
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

~.

.

prohibiting the Secretary of the Interior from releasing such apportioned but unused
water during such year for consumptive uses in the other states. No rights to the
recurrent use of such water shall accrue by reason thereof"

Relying on the decree in Arizona v Californil! likely does as much as possible to restrict
the application of the rule to the states of the Lower Division of the Colorado River
Basin. Hopefully, this sufficiently limits the rule and therefore does not create a cause
for concern about the Ute Tribes ability to market water under Article V of Ute Indian
Water rights Settlement Act of 1986.

B. The proposed rule offers no guarantees with respect to water quality. As a result,
operations under the proposed rule could possibly result in additional releases of stored
water from Lake Mead to meet Colorado River Salinity Standards. The Colorado River
Salinity Control Program was created to help maintain the standards as water
development occurred in the Colorado River Basin. However, the draft Environmental
Assessment that accompanies the proposed rule does not appear to consider this issue.
This possibility needs to be evaluated in the environmental assessment in order for the
Salinity Control Program to determine whether or not to accelerate the programs project
implementation schedule.

C. Article III(e) of the Colorado River Compact states:

"The states of the Upper Division shall not withhold water, and the states of the
Lower Division shall not require the delivery of water, which can not reasr;mably be
. applied to domestic and agricultural uses. "

It is arguable whether or not the storing of unused apportionment offstream is an
appropriate use of compact apportionment. However, Article IV(b) of the compact
clearly contemplates the storage of water by stating:

"Subject to the provisions of this compact, water of the Colorado River System
maybe impounded and used for the generation of electrical power, but such impounding
and use shall be subservient to the use and consumption of such water for agricultural
and domestic purposes and shall not interfere with or prevent use for such dominant
purposes. "

D. The definition of consumptive use in the proposed rule should always reference
the definition contained in the March 9, 1964 decree in Arizona v California. In the
"Background" section of the proposed rule, near the end of the first paragraph, a
definition for consumptive use is incorrectly attributed to the compact.

.

E. The proposed rule defines and carefully uses throughout the term "Colorado River
Water." "Colorado River Water" is defined as water in or withdrawn from the mainstem.
The proposed rule goes on to define "Mainstem" as the main channel of the Colorado
River downstream of Lee Ferry within the United States including the reservoirs behind
dams on the main channel and Senator Wash Reservoir off the main channel. The
proposed rule then defines, "Offstream Storage" as storage in a surface reservoir off the
mainstem or in a groundwater aquifer." "Offstream Storage" may also include indirect

3