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<br />,.. ......, <br />2~i:..~; <br /> <br />ANNUAL OPERATING PLAN <br />FRYING PAN-ARKANSAS PROJECT <br />WATER YEAR 2001 OPERATIONS <br /> <br />I. GENERAL <br /> <br />This is the 32nd Annual Operating Plan forthe Fryingpan-Arkansas Project (Project>. The <br />Project, completed in 1990, imports spring snowmelt runoff from Colorado's West Slope <br />to the semi-arid Arkansas River Basin on Colorado's East Slope. The Project consists of <br />federally owned dams, reservoirs, stream diversion structures, conduits, tunnels, pumping <br />plants, a pumped-storage powerplant, electric transmission lines, substations, and <br />recreation facilities. These features are located in the Fryingpan River and Hunter Creek <br />watersheds of the upper Colorado River Basin, and in the Arkansas River Basin in central <br />and southeastern Colorado. The Project provides water for irrigation, municipal and <br />industrial use, hydroelectric power generation, recreation, and wildlife habitat. The <br />Project also provides for flood control. <br /> <br />The Project was authorized under Public Law 87-590 on August 16, 1962, This law <br />provides that the Project will be operated under the Operating Principles adopted by the <br />State of Colorado on April 3(), 1959, as amended on December 3(), 1Q5Q, and on <br />December 9,1960. These Operating Principles were published as House Document 130 <br />(87th Congress, 1st Session>. <br /> <br />This Annual Operating Plan is a summary of the actual Project operation in water year <br />2000 <October I, 1999, through September 3D, 2000). <br /> <br />II. PROJECT FEATURES IN OPERATION DURING WATER YEAR 2001 <br /> <br />Ruedi Dam and Reservoir are located on the Fryingpan River, a tributary of the Roaring <br />Fork River, on Colorado's West Slope about 13 miles east of Basalt, Colorado. Ruedi <br />Reservoir has a total capacity of 102,373 acre-feet at a water surface elevation of <br />7766.() feet. The reservoir is operated on an annual cycle. Steady winter releases draft <br />the reservoir such that it is filled with the spring snowmelt runoff, while releases to the <br />Fryingpan River are maintained below the safe channel capacity. The reservoir provides <br />replacement water for out-of-priority depletions to the Colorado River by the Project as <br />well as water for West Slope irrigation, municipal, amI industrial uses on a contractual <br />basis, The reservoir is also operated to provide for recreation, wildlife habitat, and flood <br />control. <br /> <br />The West Slope Collection System, located upstream of Ruedi Reservoir in the upper <br />Fryingpan River and Hunter Creek watersheds, is a series of 16 stream diversion <br />structures and eight tunnels. The system collects spring snowmelt runoff for diversion, by <br />gravity, to the inlet of the Charles H. Boustead Tunnel <Boustead Tunnel). The Boustead <br /> <br />1 <br />