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<br />CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />Preface <br /> <br />The Bureau of Reclamation's (Reclamation) Collbran Project was <br />completed in 1962 to provide irrigation and supplemental irrigation <br />water for the Plateau Creek basin in western Colorado. Power <br />generation was included in the Co1lbran Project to provide revenues <br />for the repayment of debt beyond the local irrigator's ability to <br />pay. Originally, the Co11bran Project plan included a component to <br />supply municipal and industrial water, but this was eliminated when <br />the City of Grand Junction dropped out as a sponsor. <br /> <br />The Collbran Project uses fifteen small reservoirs constructed on <br />the Grand Mesa in the late 1800's and early 1900's to provide <br />storage for power generation. Several of the dams forming these <br />reservoirs have been rehabilitated, and others are in need of <br />rehabilitation. Costs of the rehabilitation have been a <br />significant expense to date and are partially the cause for the <br />overall high cost of power production. other factors contributing <br />to the high cost of power production include high operation and <br />maintenance expenses, lower than anticipated electrical energy <br />generation and insufficient power sales rates in earlier years. <br />The required mill rate needed by ~he Collbran Project to satisfy <br />its annual ~enses is .hiqlL wl1eILS:OmRa_~~c:Li<L-other sources .J:l.f~_u <br />Federal power, and the power customers are concerned. This is the <br />major concern driving this study. Additionally, the Collbran <br />Project has been identified as a source of water for flow <br />enhancement to benefit the endangered fishes in the Colorado River. <br />This has provided added stimulus. <br /> <br />At a May 14, 1993 meeting in Salt Lake City, basic assumptions and <br />criteria were formulated to guide future decisions regarding the <br />Collbran Project. The specific criteria are displayed in Chapter <br />III of this document. It was also decided that a report <br />