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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />\. <br /> <br />"", <br />, <br /> <br />Total System active storage as of January 1 It was 32.899 million acre-feet (maf) or 54 percent of <br />capacity, which is 3.880 mafless than one year ago. <br /> <br />December releases from Hoover, Davis, and Parker Dams averaged 10,130, 8,780 and 5,640 <br />cubic feet per second (cfs), respectively. Planned releases from those three dams for the month of <br />January 2004 are 10,400, 9,700, and 5,800 cfs, respectively. The January releases represent those <br />needed to meet downstream water requirements including those caused by the reduced operation of <br />Senator Wash Reservoir for safety of darns reasons. <br /> <br />With the Quantification Settlement Agreement signeciby four California water agencies and <br />approved by the Secretary of the Interior, a Full Domestic Surplus will goveme the remaining <br />releases during 2003 pursuant to the Interim Surplus Guidelines (ISG). With reinstatement of the <br />surplus provisions of the ISG, the Lower Division States' consumptive use of Colorado River water <br />for calendar year 2003 is estimated that the Central Arizona Project (CAP) will divert 1.686 maf, of <br />which 0.273 mafis to be credited to the Arizona Water Bank. The Metropolitan Water District of <br />Southem California (MWD) will use about 0.671 maf or 54 percent of its actual use of mainstream <br />water in 2002. In'addition, MWD wheeled 315 acre-feet, in November 2003, through its system to <br />the city of Tijuana. <br /> <br />As of January I", and taking into account both measured and unmeasured return flows, the <br />Lower Division States' consumptive use of Colorado River water for calendar year 2003, as <br />forecasted by the Board's staff, totals 7.674 mafbefore deduction of 0.264 maf for unmeasured <br />return flow credits and is distributed as follows: Arizona, 3.008 maf; California, 4.355 maf; and <br />; I <br />Nevada, 0.311 maf. <br /> <br />The preliminary end-of-year estimate for 2003 California agricultural consumptive use of <br />Colorado River water under the first three priorities and the sixth priority of the 1931 California <br />Seven Party Agreement is 3.625 maf. This estimate is based on the collective use through November <br />2003 by the Palo Verde Irrigation District, the Yuma Project-Reservation Division (ypRD), the <br />Imperial Irrigation District, and the Coachella Valley Water District. Figure I, found at the end of <br />this report, depicts the historic projected end-of-year agricultural use for the year. <br /> <br />Colorado River Ooerations <br /> <br />Colorado River Water Users Association Conference. in Las Vegas. Nevada <br /> <br />Assistant Secretary of the Interior Bennett Raley for Water and Science stood in for Secretary <br />Gale Norton at the annual meeting of the Colorado River Water Users Association Conference in <br />Las Vegas, Nevada on December 11 th. In her prepared remarks she stated "What a difference a year <br />can make..." "With the execution of the Colorado River Water Delivery Agreement..., we achieved <br />a great victory for the people of the Colorado River Basin..." Her comments were tempered, <br />however, when she added, "the current drought on the Colorado may emerge as the" next major <br />challenge for the Basin. Should current drought conditions continue and should Lake Mead fall <br />another fourteen feet, access to surplus water in the Lower Basin could be eliminated as early as <br />January 1,2005." <br /> <br />2 <br />