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<br />Convension Center at 10:00 a.m. Working Group meetings are scheduled in January, April and <br />August each year. Those who are interested in the operation of Flaming Gorge and those who <br />would like to voice their concerns are encouraged to attend these meetings. For more infonnation <br />about the Working Group please contact Ed Vidmar at 801-379-1182. <br /> <br />ASPINALL - March unregulated inflow into Blue Mesa Reservoir was 30,000 acre-feet or 83 <br />percent of average. On April 12. 2002 the basin snowpack was averaging only 39 percent of <br />nonnal, down from the 57 percent of nonnal a month ago. The monthly precipitation recorded <br />last month was 70 percent of average for March. The current inflow rate into Blue Mesa <br />Reservoir is about 950 cfs and reservoir releases are averaging about 1500 cfs. Blue Mesa's <br />present elevation is 7481.37 feet, which corresponds to a storage content of about 516.000 <br />acre-feet. <br /> <br />On April 3, 2002. the National Weather Service's River Forecast Center issued an inflow forecast <br />for Blue Mesa Reservoir for the April through July runoff period. This forecast is projecting a <br />volume runoff into the reservoir of 310,000 acre-feet. This is a 100.000 acre-foot reduction from <br />last month's forecast, and represents only a 43 percent of average runoff for this time period. <br />Given the fact that the current weather conditions remain dry, this forecast will most probably go <br />down in the near future. <br /> <br />The Uncompahgre Valley Water Users started their seasonal irrigation diversions into the <br />Gunnison Diversion Tunnel on March 20, 2002. With the current dry conditions, diversions have <br />nearly reached tunnel capacity. The tunnel is currently diverting about 1,000 cfs while releases <br />from Crystal Reservoir are currently set at 1,600 cfs. Crystal's release rate is scheduled to be <br />reduced by 250 cfs down to 1.350 cfs total release by April 13, 2002. The river flow below the <br />Gunnison Diversion Tunnel will be approximately 350 cfs after this date. This low flow in the <br />canyon below the diversion tunnel will remain at 300 to 350 cfs until there is a need to send <br />more water down river for other critical purposes. <br /> <br />The next meeting of the "Aspinall Unit Working Group" will be held on April 25, 2002 at 12:30 <br />pm in Grand Junction. Colorado. At this meeting. review of last Fall and Winter reservoir <br />operations, and plans for this Spring and Summer 2002 operations will be discussed. These <br />meetings are open forum discussions on the Aspinall Unit reservoir operations with many <br />interested groups participating. Anyone needing further information about these meetings should <br />contact Dan Crabtree in the Grand Junction Area Office at (970) 248-0652. <br /> <br />NA VAJO - Reclamation will be increasing the release from Navajo Reservoir from 600 cubic <br />feet per second (cfs) to 700 cfs at 8:00 a.m. on Monday. April 15.2002. This increase is <br />necessary due to decreasing flows in the San Juan River endangered fish critical habitat area <br />(Farmington to Lake Powell). The San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program flow <br />recoinrnendations call for an average weekly flow of between 500 cfs and 1,000 cfs in this reach <br />of the river. The scheduled release change is subject to changes in river flows and weather <br />conditions. <br /> <br />Inflows into Navajo Reservoir continue to be very low. The current reservoir inflow is averaging <br />about 400 cfs. Unregulated inflow for March was 15,700 acre-feet or 18 percent of average. The <br />current reservoir water surface elevation is 6052.84 feet which corresponds to a reservoir content <br />