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<br />. <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Basin, consensus on the appropriate procedure for employing the CRSS model <br />- limited further investigation into this possibility at that time. <br /> <br />On July 10, 1985, the Secretary of the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commis- <br />sion formally requested that Reclamation continue to pursue a review based <br />on the CRSS of water availability in the upper Colorado River Basin with <br />the focus toward a re-determination of the water supply available for use <br />in New Mexico. This investigation is a result of that request and will <br />further examine the use of the CRSS data base for upper Basin yield <br />estimations. <br /> <br />III. Hydrologic Investigation <br /> <br />The Department of Interior's past position on water availability in the <br />Upper Basin assumed that up to 5.8 MAF of water could be safely depleted <br />annually in the upper Basin. This number was derived from an annual <br />virgin flow data base and developed with three assumptions: (1) the lowest <br />34-year period of natural runoff; (2) assigned tolerable shortages to <br />irrigated agriculture; and (3) delivery of half the Mexican Treaty <br />commitment from the Upper Basin. <br /> <br />Throughout the hydrologic investigation, and as demonstrated in the at- <br />tached tables, present Colorado River Storage project (CRSP) operating <br />policy, along with required Upper Basin water deliveries, combine to form <br />the underlying assumptions that are integral to a hydrologic determination <br />of water availability from Navajo Reservoir and the Upper Colorado River <br />Basin for use in New Mexico. To determine required water deliveries for <br />the Upper Basin, the then current depletion projections were employed by <br />the Bureau in a "demand data base" for the 1984 hydrologic investigation. <br />This depletion schedule for the Colorado River System is periodically <br />updated and the current version can be found in the Bureau publication, <br />Quality of Water - Colorado River Basin Progress Report No.13 - January <br />1987. The report updates depletion projections for the river system <br />through year 2010. These projections were then extended through year 2040 <br />to serve in the demand data base for this 1987 investigation and can be <br />found in Appendix I of the report. <br /> <br />The extended depletion schedule is based on the hypothesis that <br />Basin level of depletions will reach 5.8 MAF in the year 2040. <br /> <br />the Upper <br />The examin- <br /> <br />3 <br />