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<br />00187U <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />The Regulations provide for (1) a minimum of 5,350,000 <br /> <br />acre-feet of empty reservoir space to be available as of <br /> <br />January 1 of each year, (2) forecasts to be made monthly, <br /> <br />from January through June, of the maximum inflow to Lake Mead <br /> <br />during the period January through July of each year, and (3) <br /> <br />flood releases to be made based upon the current amount of <br /> <br />empty reservoir space and the forecasted Lake Mead inflow. <br /> <br />The required flood control releases are made in stepped <br /> <br />amounts, with the next-to-last step being the target maximum <br /> <br />rate of 40,000 cfs. This rate of release had been determined <br /> <br />by the Corps in its earlier operating plans to be the maximum <br /> <br />release rate from Hoover Dam that "...would have caused only <br /> <br />minimal damage downstream". <br /> <br />The Lake Mead inflow forecasts are made by the Colorado <br /> <br />River Forecast Center which is operated by the National <br /> <br />Weather Service. A minimum August 1 empty storage space of <br /> <br />1,500,000 acre-feet is required at Lake Mead each year to <br /> <br />control summer rain floods and to initiate the reservoir <br /> <br />storage space building to achieve the January 1 space re- <br /> <br />quirement. The forecasts on which the system operations are <br /> <br />based are the maximum forecasts that have the probability of <br /> <br />not being exceeded 95 percent of the time. <br /> <br />The Bureau of Recramation must meet the minimum flood <br /> <br />control requirements, but beyond that it has some flexibility <br /> <br />in the manner in which it operates the river. Specifically, <br /> <br />for good cause it can release flows in excess of the minimum <br /> <br />, <br />required by the requlations, develop flood control storage <br /> <br />-6- <br />