BOARD02469

• Board Meeting Date: 7/18/2005
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

The general purpose of the meeting was to begin the discussion on "shortage criteria" that
the Secretary of Interior wanted developed pursuant to the recent Federal Register notice.
After some initial discussions all 7 -states agreed that there were two main goals and
objectives that the criteria had to achieve.

. Eliminate or greatly reduce the probability that curtailment of uses in the Upper
Basin would occur.
. Avoid the potential occurrence of shortages in the Lower Basin as long as
possible.

The Upper Basin States then presented a preliminary draft of the conceptual operations at
Lake Powell that was developed during the recent Upper Colorado River Commission
meeting in Farmington. Emphasis was placed on the fact that this was only half of a
potential solution and represented only Lake Powell operations during an extended
drought; the Lower Basin must add their piece. The proposal was considered worth
further study.pursing further. This proposed plan of operation must be fully evaluated. It
was noted that the Upper Basin already experiences shortages during drought conditions
simply due to natural hydrology and some consideration of this fact needs to be included.
It was noted that the states have approximately 2-months to close on the concept before
Reclamation intends to initiate the NEPA process to meet the Secretary's 30-month
schedule for the development of "shortage criteria."

2006 Annual Operating Plan Development: The Basin States and Reclamation
recently held a meeting in Las Vegas to initiate development of the 2006 op. Based upon
current and projected hydrologic conditions within the river basin, Reclamation
anticipates that 2006 will result in a "normal" declaration regarding the releases from
Hoover Dam. Additionally, Reclamation and the Basin States are discussing potential
language that could be included in the 2006 AOP associated with a mid-year review of
the releases from Glen Canyon Dam.

Revised Schedule of Calendar Year 2006 Mexican Water Deliveries: On May 2,
Mexico requested a modification of the 2006 monthly schedule of water deliveries
pursuant to the 1944 Water Treaty. Mexico has requ4sted a decrease in the amount of
water delivered in Jun4 2005, and an increase in the amount delivered in December 2005.

Proposed Solution to the Yuma Desalting Plant/Cienega de Santa Clara
Controversy: The Yuma Desalting Plant Issues Workgroup developed several short and
long-term recommendations, including: 1) utilization of Yuma area excess groundwater
to meet Mexican Treaty obligations; 2) creating a "shortage alleviation contingency
fund" to mitigate water supply disruption impacts; 3) implementing a basin-wide
consumptive use and forebearance program, based on voluntary and temporary land
fallowing 4) to fund and take necessary actions to operate the Yuma Desalting Plant
(YDP); 5) Implement a monitoring and research program at the Cienega de Santa Clara;
6) implement a program to reduce the over-delivery to Mexico related to changes in
water orders, resulting in better management of releases from upstream facilities; and 7)

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