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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I lJ02094 SUMMARY Overview Hydrosphere's Colorado River Model simulates the allocation of water in the Colorado River basin in accordance with water right priorities and the "Law of the River", subject to the constraints imposed by the hydrology and physical features of the basin, The model also simulates salinity concentrations, hydro-electric power generation and minimum streamflow reaches in the Colorado River basin. Hydrosphere's Colorado River Model was originally developed by Hydrosphere Resource Consultants in 1982, and has been continuously upgraded since then. The Law of the River refers to the various statutes, compacts, treaty, court decisions, regulations, agreements and formal operating criteria that govern the use of water in the Colorado River and its tributaries. These include the Colorado River Compact (1922), the Boulder Canyon Project Act (1929), the California Seven Party Agreement (1931), the Mexican Water Treaty (1944), the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact (1948), the Colorado River Storage Project Act (1956), the Supreme Court Decree in Arizona v. California (1963), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recommended flood control guidelines, water delivery contracts, and the Criteria for Coordinated Long-Range operation of Colorado River Reservoirs (Operating Criteria), among others. Hydrosphere's Colorado River Model simulates 14 reservoirs, 29 inflow points, 265 consumptive use points, and over 107 intervening river reaches. It covers a spatial extent that includes portions of the seven western states lying in the Colorado River basin -- the four Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming; and the three Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada. A monthly time step is used for the model simulations. The model achieves the spatial and temporal detail found in the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation's (USBR) Colorado River Simulation Model (CRSM) of the basin (Schuster, 1987) with the addition of two reservoirs. Most of the operations found in the USBR's CRSM are duplicated in Hydrosphere's Colorado River Model. Capabilities Hydrosphere's Colorado River Model has the following capabilities: . Monthly simulation of water allocation within the Colorado River basin according to the current Operating Criteria and law of the river. . Monthly simulation of hydropower generation in the Colorado River basin. . Monthly simulation of salinity concentrations in the Colorado River basin. . Monthly simulation of bypasses to meet minimum streamflow requirements in eight critical habitat reaches in the Colorado River basin.