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Instream flow demands were represented in this evaluation by the decreed <br />CWCB and private instream flow water rights in the basin. Whenever the <br />streamflow in a reach was less, on an average monthly basis, than the decreed <br />instream flow rate, a deficiency was said to exist. Such deficiencies were <br />observed on many of the stream reaches covered by existing CWCB instream flow <br />decrees, but most were minor. The most severe of these deficiencies were <br />found on lower Ohio Creek, lower Tomichi Creek, and an Cochetopa Creek -- <br />upstream of the confluence with Los Pinos Creek. Large deficiencies to the <br />relatively junior private instream flow decree below Taylor Park Dam are <br />frequent, but flow conditions regularly satisfy the CWCB decree in that reach. <br />An instream flow target of 300 cfs was included in the model for the <br />Gunnison River through the Black Canyon. As discussed in Section 3.5, this <br />water was assumed to be supplied by Blue Mesa releases whenever normal Blue <br />Mesa operations did not provide the minimum flow level. The 300 cfs minimum <br />was met in all months of the 32-year study period, requiring an annual average <br />Blue Mesa storage release of 22,000 af specifically for that purpose. Blue <br />Mesa Reservoir levels never went below minimum power pool for the Na-Action <br />Alternative. <br />4-6 <br />