WSP01522

• File Number: 8210.140.20
• Description: Colorado River Basin Organizations and Entities - Colorado River Basin States Forum - California
• State: CA
• Basin: Western Slope
• Date: 1/1/1979
• Author: Myron B Holburt
• Title: Annual Report for the Calendar Year 1978
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Annual Report

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areas adjacent to the All-American
Canal. The Bureau agreed to make the
additional studies and to meet with
the California water agencies that
would be directly involved in any
proposed water exchange.

Establishment of Critical Habitat
for Endangered Species in Basin

The Board's Annual Report for 1977
described the publishing in the
Federal Register by the u.s. Fish and
Wildlife Service of a proposed
regulation to designate the Virgin
River from lake Mead to north of
Hurricane, Utah, as a critical habitat
for an endangered species of fish, the
woundfin. The report also described
the opposition of the Colorado River
Basin states to this proposal.
On April 24, 1978, the Fish and
Wildlife Service also published in the
Federal Register a proposed regulation
to designate the bony tail chub an
endangered species and the razorback
sucker a threatened species, both of
which are native to the Colorado
River System. If this regulation is
finalized, it could jeopardize many
funded and proposed programs for
the development of further water uses
in the Colorado River Basin and
proposed programs for the
improvement of water quality such as
for salinity control.
On May 23, 1978, the
Secretary-Engineer of the Colorado
River Water Conservation District of
Glenwood Springs, Colorado, sent a
letter to the Secretary of the Interior
giving notice of intent to file a
citizen's suit under the Endangered
Species Act in the event the Secretary
of Interior fails to correct alleged
violations of the Act or associated
regulations by the Department of the
Interior's own programs which
conflict with each other and are in
violation of the Act. The Fish and
Wildlife Service recognized that the
proposed suit had merit and put an
immediate stop on all stocking of
non-native species of fish. A review
was made of all fish stocking
operations, and it was decided that in

the future stocking would be allowed
only: (1) if there would be no effect
on the endangered species, (2) if
there is a barrier to migration of the
stocked species to other reaches of
the stream, or (3) if it is determined
by firm data that the stocked species
uses a different habitat than the
endangered or threatened species in
the same reach of stream. Stocking of
trout was later resumed everywhere in
the Basin except lake Havasu, but
stocking of channel catfish and other
warm water fishes was resumed only
in those areas where there are no
endangered species.
On July 21, 1978, and again on
August 11, 1978, the Chief Engineer,
in letters to the Director of the Fish
and Wildlife Service, recommended
that the proposed rule-making relative
to the bony tail chub and the
razorback sucker be held in abeyance,
and that studies be initiated that
would identify the life cycle of these
species in the lower Colorado River
mainstem, to the extent that clear
conclusions may be drawn relative to
their status as threatened or
endangered species.
In the Federal Register of August 23,
1978, there was published a proposed
rule to designate the Virgin River
Chub as an endangered species and
to designate all of the Virgin River
below laVerkin Springs, Utah, in the
States of Nevada, Arizona and Utah
as critical habitat for the chub. On
November 9, 1978, the Chief
Engineer, in a letter to the Director of
the Fish and Wildlife Service, stated
that the Board concluded that the
evidence presented does not support
the designation as critical habitat of
two reaches of the Virgin River: (1)
from lake Mead to an undefined
point immediately downstream of the
Town of Mesquite, Nevada, and (2)
through the Beaver Dam Mountains,
commonly called the Virgin River
Narrows. In these two reaches of the
river, there are no flows over
substantial periods of each year; thus,
these reaches could not be critical for
the survival of the Virgin River Chub
and should not be included in any
designation of critical habitat. Since
Congress had just enacted several

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changes in the Endangered Species
Act, the letter also recommended that
the proposed rule-making be held in
abeyance until the impacts of these
changes on such rule-making can be
fully evaluated.
In a letter dated November 22,
1978, to the Fish and Wildlife Service,
the Colorado River Basin Salinity
Control Forum also supported the
Colorado River Board's conclusions
regarding the Virgin River Chub.

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Chemehuevi Indian Reservation
Wastewater Facility

The concern of the Board and all of
California's Colorado River water
users regarding the proposed
aquaculture wastewater treatment
plant was described in the 1977
Annual Report. The Tribe cancelled
plans to construct the facility in 1978
because the federal Economic
Development Administration would
not release its grant funds of $2.4
million because of the concerns of
federal agencies and Colorado River
water users over the use of water
hyacinth or duckweed as a nutrient
stripping agent.
The Chemehuevi Tribe has
submitted a grant application for $2.5
million for a plant using conventional
wastewater treatment technology. The
new facilities will include lagoons for
fish and shellfish culture.

Consortium of Water Institutes and
Centers

The Consortium of Water Institutes
and Centers is an organization of
universities in the Colorado River
Basin states that perform water related
research in the Basin. The Board's
Assistant Chief Engineer is a member
of the Consortium's Technical
Advisory Committee. Many of the
Research projects currently being
conducted by the various members of
the Consortium have been described
in previous annual reports.
The Chief Engineer gave a
presentation on April 11, 1978, at
Reno, Nevada, at the Southwest

The Colorado River cuts a deep channel
emerging from the southern end of Grand
Canyon.