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<br />-, <br /> <br />4 <br /> <br />1. Supply industrial oil shale demand downstream on the Colorado River. <br />For operational analysis, this demand was assumed to be a uniform <br />930 acre-feet per month demand over 10 months of the year (July through <br />April). Hay and June are excepted since natural flows in these months <br />would nonnal1y support the demand. <br /> <br />2. Supply the water necessary to mak.e up Green Mountain water operation <br />shortages to permit full utilization of the 100.000 acre-foot pool. <br /> <br />3. Provide for 2.000 acre-feet of water supply for Middle Park. Water <br />Conservancy District. as required by the Intergoverrvnental Agreement. <br /> <br />4. Provide for augmentation releases out of Muddy Creek. Reservoir up to <br />100 cfs during August. September. and October in Muddy Creek and the <br />Colorado River. The availability of these releases would be dependent <br />upon storage in the reservoir. but they could be used for a variety of <br />enha~nt purposes (e.g.. endangered fishes. recreation. and aquatic <br />habitat) . <br /> <br />The Muddy Creek project would cause an average annual depletion of <br />7.716 acre-feet. <br /> <br />BASIS FOR OPIIIIII <br /> <br />Water consUll1ltlOll for thi s project is based on a worse-case scenario as <br />identified by the Bureau. This estimate is that an annual average of <br />7.716 acre-feet of water will be consumed for this project. <br /> <br />Water depletions in the Upper Colorado River Basin have been recognized as a <br />major source of ill1>Kt to endangered fish species. Continued water withdrawal <br />has restricted tile ability of the Colorado River system to produce flow <br />conditions r~jred by various life stages of the fish. Impoundments and <br />diversions haver~ed peak discharges by 50 percent since 1942 while <br />increasing ~fl~ by 21 percent in some reaches. These depletions along <br />with a number of other factors have resulted in such drastic reductions in the <br />populations of Colorado sQuawfish. humpback. chub, and bony tail chub that the <br />Service has listed these species as endangered and has illlllemented programs to <br />prevent thelll fna becoming extinct. <br /> <br />COLORADO SOUAWFISfI <br /> <br />Status <br /> <br />The Colorado ~isb evolved as the main predator in the Colorado River <br />system. The diet of Colorado sQuawfi sh that are longer than 3 or 4 inches <br />consists al~entlrely of other fishes (Vanicek. and Kramer 1969). The <br />Colorado sQUilllfisb is the largest cyprinid fish (minnow family) native to North <br />