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<br />... <br /> <br />earlier criteria. The flexible concept arose with the <br />adddition of Upper Basin storage, with the technical ability <br />to forecast runoff, and from periodic reviews of the <br />regulations conducted by the Corps of Engineers, in <br />cooperation with the Bureau and the Basin states. <br /> <br />The Corps of Engineers, in its 1978-1982 review of the <br />Hoover Dam Flood Control Regulations, evaluated nine river <br />operating alternatives which favored a different one of the <br />author ized Hoover Dam project purposes of flood control and <br />river regulation, water conservation, and power generation. <br />Hydrologic analyses of the Colorado River system using these <br />alternatives were made jointly by the Corps of Engineers and <br />the Bureau, and the benefits of each, as measured by reduced <br />flood damages, increased availability of water and generation <br />of hydroelectric energy, were compared. In addition, the <br />impacts of these alternatives on fish and wildlife, water <br />quality, and other parameters were analyzed. The Corps of <br />Engineers' analyses concluded that the alternative that most <br />closely paralleled the then-existing flood control <br />regulations produced the optimum combination of beneficial <br />objectives. After public review and comments on the Corps of <br />Engineers' study, that alternative was adopted to form the <br />present Hoover Dam Flood Control Regulations. <br /> <br />The concept of redistribution of excess water releases <br />deals with only that increment of mandatory flood control <br />releases in excess of downstream water needs. The <br />redistribution of excess water releases is a further <br />refinement in providing greater operational flexibility and <br />control made possible only through the increased technical <br />ability to forecast runoff and to simulate river conditions <br />under varying probable water supplies. It inherently <br />incorporates the optimum combination of beneficial reservoir <br />objectives determined and used as the basis for the existing <br />Hoover Dam Flood Control Regulations and builds upon them for <br />the purpose of improving river management, principally with <br />respect to the upper spectrum of releases under full or near <br />full conservation storage conditions. <br /> <br />The concept is essentially an extension of the month-to- <br />month release determinations made, based on flood control <br />regulations and runoff forecasting, to a greater time base, <br />resulting in a continuous 24-month operational outlook and <br />release schedule. In br i ef, i t involves the iden t i fica t ion <br />of anticipated mandatory flood control releases that are <br />excess to system conservation storage and downstream water <br />needs under varying probable water supplies for the next 24- <br />month period and the redistribution, if appropriate, of <br />excess water releases so as to provide greater operational <br />flexibility in managing excess river flows. The basis for <br />the redistribution of excess water releases would be <br /> <br />-8- <br />