BOARD02372

• Board Meeting Date: 3/29/1999
• Description: Quantification of Reserved Water Right for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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November 22, 1994
Page Two

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The Board is of the opinion that operations at Aspinall, to date, have provided adequate.
releases to offset the depletions and satfsfy comniitrnents associated with the biological
opinions for the Dallas and Dolores projects.

2) Blue Mesa should be filled by the end of July each year.

3) Storage in Blue Mesa should be reduced to 58 I ,000 AF of live storage by December 3 I each
year to help alleviate the potential for ice jam flooding between December I and April 30
above Blue Mesa Reservoir. Furthermore, this drawdown and subsequent additional
drawdown which may occur based on runoff forecasts provides the reservoir space required
to regulate spring runoff and minimize downstream flooding. Winter carry over storage
should not be increased simply to provide a spring peak.

4)

The bypass or spill of water should be avoided to the extent possible at all three reservoirs.
This is required by the Colorado River Storage Project Act which authorized the construction
of the Aspinall Unit. High flows should not be forced to bypass the powerplants or cause
flooding in the Delta area if such is avoidable. To the extent forecast and runoff conditions
allow, peak spring releases from the Aspinall Unit should be timed to coincide with peak
flows on the North Fork and Uncompahgre, but the peak at Whitewater should be no more
than 20,000 cfs in order to minimize the potential for downstream flooding and flood damage. .

5)

Release rates should not be such that reservoir levels drop below mininnun power head except
during extreme drought.

6)

Power generation should be the next consideration. Ramping rates should be as large as
possible and seasonally adjusted after taking into consideration the needs of the gold medal
trout fishery, endangered fish and other relevant recreation and project safety concerns. We
generally concur with the recommended ramping rates suggested by the Colorado Division of
Wildlife which are to ramp up at 500 cfslday, ramp down at 250 cfslday and try to limit daily
fluctuations to around 200 cfs, particularly during fish spawning and hatch times.

7)

To the extent possible, Reclamation should work with Western to reduce fluctuation
restrictions on Morrow Point and Crystal. We are of the opinion that there must be some way
to adjust tour boat operations on Morrow Point to provide Western with some additional
operational flexibility. Release restrictions on power operations in 1994 resulted in lost
revenues for Western of $3.5 million at Glen Canyon, $1.5 million at the Gorge and $I.5
million at Aspinall, for a total of $6.5 million in lost revenues during 1994.

8)

If possible, after satisfying the above, the Black Canyon flows should be kept at 800- 1200 cfs
to satisfy rafters between April 15 and October 30.

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