WSP04195

• File Number: 8282.600.10
• Description: Colorado River Operating Annual Reports
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 1/1/1973
• Author: USDOI/BOR
• Title: Operation of the Colorado River Basin 1973 Projected Operations 1974
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

Preservation of Environment

Preservation or enhancement of environment
is a matler of the highest importance in the
planning, construction, and operation of the
Colorado River Storage Project. Contracts for
water services, grants of rights-of-way and
indentures of lease for use of Federal land,
supply contracts, and participating agreements
executed by the Secretary of the Interior in-
clude language to control water and air pollu-
tion, to reguire restoration and reseeding of
lands scarred by construction and operation
activities, and to encourage conservation of
the aestheti c beauty of nature.
Operation of the reservoirs of the Colorado
River system recognizes the need to schedule
releases from Fontenelle Reservoir so that the
flow pattern wi II not adversel y affect the eco-
logy of downstream geese-nesting areas. Mini-
mum flows are maintained below all dams to
provide a desirable habitat for fish, animal,
and plant life. Flood control operations at
Navajo Reservoir and lake Mead protect the
downstream channels and flood plains from
erosion and scouring during periods of high
flow. Recent proposals for several large ther-
mal-electric generating plants cooled with
water and cool gasification plants utilizing
water from Reclamation facilities in the Colo-
rado River system have reguired special
considerati on to protect the envi ronment and
ecology of the area. Particulate emissions
from combustion of cool, provision for control
of noxious gasses, appearance, and aesthetic
considerations are some of the factors in which
Reclamation has become involved in planning
these plants. The Secretary of the Interior's
responsibi I ity for poll uti on control at the Nava-
jo, Four Corners, Huntington Canyon, Sa"
Juan Powerplants, and two cool gasifica-
tion plants 011 using water From the

Colorado River system being planned for the
Four Corners area, has been delegated to the
Commissioner of Reclamation and redelegated
to the Regional Director of the Upper Colorado
Region. The Regional Director of the lower
Colorado Region has been delegated responsibi-
I ity for pollution control at the Mohave Power-
plant.
The final environmental statement for the
initial unit of San Juan Powerplant, FES 73-
10, was filed with the Council on Environ-
mental Quality On March I, 1973.
Even though schedules of releases were
modified by the court order in the Rainbow
Bridge suit, inflow to lake Mead should have
been more than suffi cient during the bass
spawning season, as discussed previously, to
enhance the lake Mead fishery. Fish habi-
tat was enhonced in the river below Glen
Canyon Dam by maintaining adeguate flow
ra tes .
In order to assess the potential impact of
thennal powerplants on the Colorado River
Basin and adjacent areas, the Secretary of
the Interior has made an appraisal report of
the reguirements and availability of
reSOurces needed to pennit an orderly
development of thennal-electric power to
meet a I ogi cal porti On of the projected de-
mand for electric power through year 1990
while protecting the guality of the environ-
ment. One of the resources vital to any
thennal power development in the semi-arid
Southwest is water for cooling. The report
identifies the sources and amounts of water
available for thennal powerplant use as well
as the compacts, laws, and other constraints
likely to govern use of the available water
far this purpose.

25