WSP01659

• File Number: 8282.600.10
• Description: Colorado River Operating Annual Reports
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 1/1/1974
• Author: USDOI/BOR
• Title: Operation of the Colorado River Basin 1974 Projected Operations 1975
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

Preservation of Environnlent

Preservation or enhancement of
environment is a matter of the highest
importance in the planning, construction, and
operation of aU Colorado River storage features.
Contracts for water services, grants of
rights-of-way and indentures of lease for use of
Federal land, supply contracts, and participating
agreements executed by the Secretary of the
Interior include language to control water and
air pollution, to reqUIre restoration and
reseeding of lands scarred by construction and
operation activities, and to encourage
Conserva tion of the esthetic beau ty of na ture.
Operation of the reservoirs of the Colorado
River system recognizes the need to schedule
releases from FonteneUe Reservoir so that the
flow pattern will not adversely affect the
ecology of downstream geese-nesting areas.
Minimum flows are maintained below all dams
to provide a desirable habitat for fish, animal,
and plantlife. Flood control operations at
Navajo Reservoir and Lake Mead protect the
downstream channels and flood plains from
erosion and scouring during periods of high
flow. Recent proposals for several large
thermal-electric generating plants cooled with
water and for coal gasification plants utilizing
water from Reclamation. facilities in the
Colorado River system have required special
consideration to protect the environment and
ecology of the area. Particulate emissions from
combustion of coal, provision for control of
noxious gasses, water quality, appearance, and
esthetic considerations are some of the factors
in which Reclamation has become involved
while planning these plants. The Navajo, Four
Corners, HUlltington Canyon, and San Juan

Powerplants, and two coal gasification plants
all use wa ter from the Colorado River system
near the Four Corners area. The Secretary of
the Interior's responsibility for pollution
control has been delegated to the Commissioner
of Reclamation and redelegated to the Regional
Director of the Upper Colorado Region. The
Regional Director of the Lower Colorado
Region has been delegated responsibility for
pollution control at the Mohave Powerplant.
Reclamation is presently involved in a
Federal-State study to evaluate, among other
things, the effects of reservoir operation on the
Lake Mead bass fishery. The study is scheduled
for completion in 1977 and should provide
valuable information to help protect and
enhance Lake Mead's environment.
Fish habitat was enhanced in the river
below Glen Canyon Dam by maintaining
adequate flow rates.
In order to assess the potential impact of
thermal powerplants on the Colorado River
Basin and adjacen t areas, the Secretary of the
Interior has made an appraisal report of the
requirements and availa bili ty of resources
needed to permit an orderly development of
thermal-electric power to meet a logical portion
of the projected demand for electric power
through year 1990 while protecting the quality
of the environment. One of the resources vital
to any thermal power development in the
semi-arid Southwest is water for cooling. The
report identifies the sources and amounts of
water available for thermal powerplant use as
wen as the compacts, laws, and other
constraints likely to govern use of the avaibble
water for this purpose.

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