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<br />seeking sport and relaxation in hunting, fishing,
<br />swimming, boating, water-skiing, camping, picnick-
<br />ing, sight-seeing, bird-watching and like activities.
<br />In a water-shon river, conflicts are bound to arise
<br />even among the different interests and needs of the
<br />same people, For example, what's good for duck hunt-
<br />ing, such as :l lagoon, marsh or side channel, is not
<br />good for conservation of water. \Vhat's fine for water-
<br />skiing and boat racing, such as a straight dear channel,
<br />docs not necessarily enhance fishing or sight-seeing.
<br />The lower river chnnnel is far from stable, The
<br />water is continually scouring out or depositing sedi-
<br />ment, cutting hanks or building bars, in ever-changing
<br />manner and place. A1aintenancc of :1 hydraulically
<br />efficient channel, to insure delivery of water to using
<br />agencies when ~1I1d as ordered, demands constant atten-
<br />tion and Inbor by the U.S, Bureau of Reclamation
<br />which manages the river and reservoirs, dredging and
<br />filling, huilding revetments and cutting through ox-
<br />bows. Such activities afe not always looked upon with
<br />fa\'or by rod and gun club"
<br />Of recent years proposals by the Bureau of Recla-
<br />mation for large-scale endeavors [0 maintain and im-
<br />prove control of the river channel and to conserve
<br />water have roused acute controversy among the v3ried
<br />public interests, despite the fact that reservoirs and
<br />channel improvements already built have made the
<br />river much more delightful to humans, fish and wild-
<br />life than ir was before it was brought under control,
<br />In somewhat lesser degree, conflicts of interest are
<br />inherent in the operation of the reservoirs on the river,
<br />as among the need for high rescrvoir levels for power
<br />generation, resulting in high evaporation losses, the
<br />need to minimize evaporation to conserve water for
<br />irrigation and urban use, and the need to evacuate
<br />
<br />storage space and perhaps waste water in order (0
<br />anticipate ~nd control floods.
<br />Consider a specific example: the problem of filling
<br />and operating large new reservoirs on the ri\'{T with-
<br />Out undue detriment to downstream interests. The
<br />giant new reservoirs in the Upper Basin will store :m
<br />aggregate of some 34 million ncre-feer of wnter when
<br />full, for portioning out in dry years, but first they
<br />hnve to be filled in wet years, (See Appendix 4)
<br />Upper Basin interesrs quite properly desire to ac-
<br />cumulate storage as rapidly as possible, to insure com-
<br />pliance with their ,vater deli\'ery ohligation to the
<br />Lower Basin and to attain efficient operation of the
<br />power plants in order to deri\'e the re,'enues needed
<br />to pay for the dams. power plants and participating
<br />projects. On the other hand they re:llizc that unless
<br />\v'J.ter flows through the turbines they will generate
<br />neither po\\."er nor re\'enues. Lower Basin interests, also
<br />quite properly, want watcr to keep flowing into Lake
<br />Mead, to maintain efficient operation of Hoo\."er power
<br />plant and to insure adequate resen'c storage of water
<br />for downstream use. In order to serve all these pur-
<br />poses, bountiful flows in the ri\'er would be needed
<br />for sevcrnl years follo\\:ing initial closure of the ne\\'
<br />dams.
<br />Foresecing that rhe opposite could hnppen, the Colo-
<br />rado River Board of California and othcr Lower Basin
<br />interests urged the nced of operating rules that would
<br />pro(ect downstream users 3gainst the coincidence of a
<br />series of low runoff years with the time when the
<br />new reservoirs would be ready for filling. Se\'cral
<br />years of cooperati,,'c engineering study and negoti-
<br />ations by representatives of both basins and the
<br />Secretnry of the Interior resulted in the 1962 promul-
<br />gation by the Secretary of "General Principles to
<br />Go\'ern, and Operating Criteria for, Glen Canyon
<br />Reservoir (Loke Powell) and Lake Mend During the
<br />Lnke Powell Filling Period."
<br />These principles provide operating guidelines that
<br />nre applicable onl)' during the initial filling period of
<br />Lake Powell or until 1987, whichever occurs first, The
<br />Colorado River Basin Project Act calls for the formu-
<br />lation of coordinated long-range criteria for the opcr-
<br />:Hion of the major reservoirs of the Colorado Ri\'er
<br />Srorage Project nnd Lake Mead, and sets forth cennin
<br />principles to be followed in establishing the criterin
<br />upon their scheduled adoption, On )uly 1, 1970, these
<br />operating criteria will be followed in scheduling re-
<br />leases from the major Colorado River reser\'oirs. Thus,
<br />all of the basin states will have an important stake in
<br />the formulation of these criteria to assure that they are
<br />ns equitable as possible to all parties.
<br />
<br />17
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