Laserfiche WebLink
<br />one benefit (power generation) of the water in storage between those <br /> <br />{)V <4/-1 <br /> <br />elevations; while ignoring the paramount benefits of such storage to <br /> <br />the Upper Basin States. The evaporation of water from reservoirs is an <br /> <br />inevitable part of the cost of river regulation required to satisfy the <br /> <br />requirements of an institutionally constrained system in about the same <br /> <br />fashion as paying rent on a building is part of the cost of doing busi- <br /> <br />ness. If one were to follow the doctor's hypothesis to a "logical" <br /> <br />conclusion one would avoid all evaporation from reservoirs by emptying <br /> <br />the reservoirs. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of people who <br /> <br />depend on such reservoirs would be deprived of food, Clothing, shelter, <br /> <br />and drinking water, too, while a lot of dollars worth of water not <br /> <br />evaporated were being saved and millions of acre-feet were being wasted <br /> <br />to the ocean! <br /> <br />The primary purpose of the Congressional Act that authorized the <br /> <br />reservoirs of the Colorado River Storage Project, especially Lake Powell, <br /> <br />is to make it possible for the Upper Division States to meet their legal <br />. <br /> <br />commitment to deliver 75 million acre-feet of water in every period of <br /> <br />. 10 consecutive years under the Colorado River Compact to the Lower Basin, <br /> <br />while making the maximum conservation and use of water allocated by that <br /> <br />same compact to Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. This is accom- <br /> <br />plished by the hold-over storage of water from normal and good water years <br /> <br />for release in subsequent low water years in order to permit the diversion <br /> <br />of water from Upper Basin streams. If Lake Powell, which supplies over <br /> <br />80% of the storage capacity necessary, is operated in any manner that <br /> <br />precludes utilizing its full capacity, the primary purpose of the law <br /> <br />cannot be accomplished. Computer studies of river operations illustrate <br /> <br />very well that if Lake Powell were to be operated to not exceed elevation <br /> <br />3600 feet above sea level, <br /> <br />5 <br />