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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) is projected to divert 1.097 maf. <br /> <br />The preliminary August '5'" forecast of 1998 end-of-year California agricultural consumptive <br />use of Colorado River water under the first three priorities of the 1931 California Seven Party <br />Agreement is 3.840 maf. This estimate is based on the collective use through July 1998 by the Palo <br />Verde Irrigation District (PVID), the Yuma Project Reservation Division (YPRD), the Imperial <br />Irrigation District (lID), and the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD). Figure I, found at the <br />end of this report, depicts the forecast of end-of-year agricultural use for the year. <br /> <br />Colorado River Oocrations <br /> <br />On August 4, 1998, Reclamation held its final consultation meeting with the Colorado River <br />Basin states representatives on the draft 1999 Annual Qperating Plan for the Colorado River <br />Reservoir System (1999 AOP). During that meeting, no substantive changes in the language <br />contained in the draft 1999 AOP were suggested. Following the meeting, Reclamation's proposed <br />1999 AOP was sent to the Secretary of the Department of the Interior for his approval. It is <br />anticipated that the 1999 AOP will be approved and forwarded to the Basin State governors and <br />others by the end of October. ' <br /> <br />With the Colorado River reservoir system being nearly full, Reclamation's latest 24-Month <br />study projects that space building releases will be required from Hoover Dam this year in order to <br />create the 5.35 mar of vacant space required in the reservoirs system on January I" by the U.S. Army <br />Corps of Engineers flood control regulations for Hoover Dam. In anticipation of making this space <br />building release, Reclamation is attempting to schedule a conference call with the Basin states <br />representatives to discuss the available options. Currently, the 24-Month study shows a need to <br />release about 120,000 acre-feet above downstream requirements prior to December 31,1998, to <br />create the required vacant space followed by flood control releases above downstream requirements <br />in January, February, and March of 1999. The volume of the flood control releases above <br />downstream requirements is estimated to be about 900,000 acre-feet. The questions that are <br />expected to be posed by Reclamation are: when should the space building release be made <br />(December or earlier) , what should be the daily discharge of those releases, and should a portion of <br />the anticipated January through March flood control releases be made prior to January to avoid the . <br />possibility of higher flood control releases being made in the January through March time frame? <br /> <br />Included in the Board folder is a News Release from Reclamation announcing that <br />Reclamation and the Gila River Indian Community have signed a master repayment contract and <br />record of decision which completes the environmental review process and allows the Tribe to begin <br />construction of the needed facilities on its reservation to deliver Central Arizona Project (CAP) <br />water. The Tribe has been allocated 173,100 acre-feet of CAP water from Arizona's 2.8 MAF <br />Colorado River entitlement. <br /> <br />Article V of the 1964 Supreme Court Decree in Arizona v. California requires Reclamation <br />to keep detailed and accurate annual records oflower Colorado River water releases, diversions, and <br />consumptive uses. At last month's Board meeting, the Board discussed Reclamation's ongoing <br />process to develop the Lower Colorado River Accounting System (LCRAS) which would replace its <br />current accounting methodology in the year 2000. The intended purpose of LeRAS is to better <br /> <br />2 <br />