BOARD02336

• Board Meeting Date: 9/27/1999
• Description: Directors' Reports
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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costs associated with the 21,650 acre-feet. These payments were first made by the program in 1998.
These payments prevent the operations and maintenance cost from being added to the repayment costs
associated with future contracts and thus help keep water costs reasonable. The CWCB has provided a list
of issues to be considered in Reclamation's development of the "Basis of Negotiation" for this contract.

Coordinated Facilities Operation Study: The Coordinated Facilities Team continues to work on
a Phase I report for the Coordinated Facilities Water Availability Study for the Endangered Fishes of the
Upper Colorado River Basin. Work is focusing on alternatives for supplying up to 20,000 acre-feet of
additional water to existing spring peak flows in a segment of the river that has been designated as critical
habitat between Palisade and Grand Junction, known as the 15-Mile Reach. The alternatives include
coordinating the operations of existing reservoirs, irrigation ditches and canals, power plants and other
facilities, so that water is delivered to the critical habitat when it the fish need it.

The team is comprised of state and federal water officials and water user representatives, along
with a team of consultants and has been meeting since October 1998. The group has developeg a list of
more than 25 alternatives for consideration. Comments received during public meetings held on
September 14 (in Glenwood Springs) and 21 (in Lakewood) will help the committee assure all potential
options are identified and to recommend options to be subject to a more detailed analysis during the
second phase of the study. Over 150 notices were sent out to interested parties and the media on August
12,1999 and approximately 20 people attended the Glenwood Springs meeting. Another good discussion
of the alternatives is anticipated at the Lakewood meeting.

The study is scheduled to be complete by December 2000. The coordinated facilities study will be
an integral part of the reasonable and prudent alternative identified in the l5-Mile Reach Programmatic
Biological Opinion. Additional information about the study and the meetings is posted on our website
and can be viewed by clicking on the "Coordinated Facilities Study" link. The next activities undertaken
will be to:

· incorporate the comments and information received from the interviews and Public Meetings
into the Phase I Report, and
· hold a meeting on October 28, 1999 with the Executive Committee to decide on the List of
Alternatives that will be taken into the Phase II portion of the Study which will investigate the
alternatives in more detail.

Colorado River Annual Operating Plan: A final consultation meeting was held on August 10 in
Las Vegas concerning the 2000 AOP. The 2000 AOP continues to contain the same determinations that it
has the last several years. These determinations include:

· Hoover Dam will be operated under a "surplus" condition;
· Any Lower Division state can use water unused by other Lower Division states
· Mexico would be allowed to schedule the delivery of 1.7 million acre-feet; and
· Storage in the Upper Basin reservoirs is above the 602(a)-storage requirement, thus the
equalization of storage between Lakes Powell and Mead and the avoidance of spills will
govern releases from Glen Canyon. .

During the August 10 meeting, it appeared that final language concerning the relationship of the
Grand Canyon Protection Act to the "Law of the River" was accepted, but recent indications suggest
Interior Depa~ent officials are still looking for opportunities to provoke another significant

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