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. OQ3J7~ . GROUND RULES AND ASSUMPTIONS INTRODUCTION In order to carry out a preliminary feasibility investigation of alternatives for supplying 20,000 acre- feet per year of water to assist in the recovery of the endangered fishes of the Upper Colorado River it is necessary to establish the ground rules under which this investigation will proceed and what assumptions are necessary to facilitate the study. The purpose of this section is to detail the ground rules and assumptions that have been made for this investigation and to provide explanation and justification for these ground rules and assumptions. GROUND RULES No Restrictions On Alternatives Investigated In this Phase 1 investigation, consideration of all alternatives was permitted; no alternatives were summarily eliminated from investigation solely because of stakeholder opposition. Evaluation and Screening Criteria Evaluation and screening criteria are listed in Table 1 which also includes the procedure for ranking the alternatives considered and studied in Phase 1. RIPRAP Alternatives We can and will investigate the feasibility of expanding or modifying certain of the RIPRAP alternatives as listed in the Preliminary Biological Opinion (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1999). Yield available from these modifications andlor expansions of the RIPRAP alternatives will count toward meeting the targets of the 20,000 acre-feet if this yield is in addition to the yield of the original RIPRAP alternative. ASSUMPTIONS Model The model used for evaluating and analyzing the various alternatives in Phase I is StateMod which was originally developed for the Colorado River Decision Support System. Michael Kane: Can vou add some explanation and iustification on whv we have selected StateMod? Would vou also talk about what we're probablv going to do for a dailv time step model. The Service is willing to accept usage of StateMod with its monthly time step. (Additional work will 7