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<br />.~ <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />It should be noted from the outset, however, that the <br />purpose of redistributing excess water is to provide more <br />effective river management during full reservoir conditions. <br />Additional hydropower generation, reduced O&M costs, water <br />quality, and recreation and fish and wildlife resource <br />benefits which occur are secondary to this purpose. The <br />operating criteria and prudent river management dictate that <br />appropr iate consideration be given to optimizing these <br />potential benefits. They result from pursuing the goals of <br />improving river regulation and reducing the probability of <br />making high flood control releases. <br /> <br />It should be further noted that, although incidental <br />risks may accrue relative to optimizing specific benefits, <br />the risk of major concern is the impact to conservation <br />storage. since an overriding principle of the process <br />described herein is the redistribution of excess water <br />without jeopardizing water conservation, means for mitigating <br />the risk to water conservation is an essential component of <br />the process for developing AOP's during full reservoir <br />conditions. <br /> <br />3.4.2 System Recovery. The evaluation parameter used to <br />measure the risk to conservation storage will be "system <br />recovery., or the system's ability to return to a condition <br />defined under a Base Case operation. In general, with <br />respect to the upper Basin, system recovery centers on the <br />Lake Powell storage condition. A Lake Powell full reservoir <br />condition has been defined, in the past, in terms of a <br />storage of 22.6 maf on January 1. This condition would be <br />used to measure the impact of a plan which is based upon <br />excess water releases. The 24-month study computer model <br />would be used to perform sensitivity studies which <br />demonstrate how the releases from Lake Powell could be <br />controlled to achieve this storage condition under various <br />probable water supply scenarios. <br /> <br />The principle of system recovery would also be evaluated <br />in the context of equalization of storage between Lake Powell <br />and Lake Mead. System recovery would by achieved if the <br />redistribution of excess water releases, by themselves, do <br />not result in the content of Lake Mead being below that of <br />Lake powell on September 30 of that year, or dur ing <br />subsequent years, thus triggering the equalization provision <br />of the Operating Criteria. This provision of the Operating <br />Criteria is not expected to be invoked during this brief <br />period of excess water if the operation of Lake Mead is <br />carefully monitored and the appropriateness of excess <br />releases are evaluated monthly. By using the 24-month study <br />computer model, the limits to the ability to make excess <br />releases from Lake Mead without impacting the equalization <br />provision of the Operating Criteria can be defined. <br /> <br />-38- <br />