WSP05470

• File Number: 8210.140.20
• Description: Colorado River Basin Organizations and Entities - Colorado River Basin States Forum - California
• State: CA
• Basin: Western Slope
• Date: 1/1/1980
• Author: Myron B Holburt
• Title: Annual Report for the Calendar Year 1979
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Annual Report

~r..3i'
.1 \Jl I..}.

Introduction

The Colorado River Board of
California is the State agency created
by the Legislature in 1937 for the
purpose of protecting the rights and
interests of the State, its agencies, and
its citizens in the water resources of
the Colorado River System, The duties
of the Board are set forth in Sections
12527 through 12533 of the California
Water Code. The activities of the
12-member staff are directed by the
Chief Engineer, Myron B. Holburt. The
California Attorney General is legal
counsel to the Board, and Deputy
Attorneys General Douglas B. Noble
and Emil Stipanovich have been
assigned to provide continuing legal
services to the Board.
The Board consists of a total of 11
members. Six members are appointed
by the Governor from the agencies
with Colorado River water and power
rights-City of Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power,
Coachella Valley Water District,
Imperial Irrigation District, The
Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California, Palo Verde
Irrigation District, and San Diego
County Water Authority. Three
additional members are appointed by
the Governor from the public, and the
Directors of the Departments of
Water Resources and Fish and Game
or their designees, are ex-officio '
members of the Board. The Governor
appoints a Chairman from among lhe
members of the Board other than the
latter two members or their designees.
Patricia C. Nagle continued as
Chairman of the Board during 1979.
Raymond R. Rummonds was elected
to serve as Vice Chairman of the
Board.

Colorado River
Operations

Operations During 1979

The estimated virgin flow of the
Colorado River at Lee Ferry during

the 1978-79 water year (October 1
through September 30) was
17,793,000 acre-feet. This was 128
percent of the long-time average flow
of 13,855,000 acre-feet for the 58-year
period from 1922 through 1979. The
effects of this above-average flow are
described in the next section.
During the water year, storage in
Upper Basin reservoirs increased by
4,893,000 acre-feet, and storage in
Lower Basin reservoirs increased by
1,308,000 acre-feet. As of September
30, 1979, the active storage in the
major Upper Basin reservoirs was
26,705,000 acre-feet and the active
storage in the Lower Basin reservoirs
was 24,240,000 acre-feet. The actual
flow of the river below Glen Canyon
at Lee Ferry for the water year was
8,262,000 acre-feet.
The u.s. Water and Power
Resources Service, the new name,
after November 6, 1979, for the
Bureau of Reclamation, estimated the
1978-79 water year Upper Basin
depletions by the Upper Basin States
(Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and
Wyoming) at 3,658,000 acre-feet,
248,000 acre-feet less than the
previous year.
Diversions less measured returns
from the mainstream for the major
water users of the Lower Basin States
(Arizona, California, and Nevada)
were 6,069,000 acre-feet for calendar
year 1979, 265,000 acre-feet more
than in 1978. Data from major
California users show diversions less
returns for calendar year 1979 at
4,891,000 acre-feet, 295,000 acre-feet
more than 1978.
Deliveries of Colorado River water
to Mexico in accordance with the
1944 United States-Mexico Water
Treaty totaled 3,345,000 acre-feet
during calendar year 1979 or
1,845,000 acre-feet in excess of the
Treaty's guaranteed annual quantity.
Of this amount, 251 acre-feet was
conveyed on an interim basis to the
City of Tijuana through facilities of the
Metropolitan Water District and other
agencies in accordance with Minute
No. 240 of the International Boundary
and Water Commission, about 88,000
acre-feet was delivered across th~
southerly international boundary near
San Luis, and about 2,044,000

6

acre-feet was diverted into the Alamo
Canal.
Of the 1,845,000 acre-feet of
delivery in excess of the Treaty's
guaranteed annual quantity, about
178,000 acre-feet was covered under
provisions of the Commission's
Minute No. 242, the 1973 salinity
agreement with Mexico, and 200,000
acre-feet was chargeable to additional
scheduled flow under Article 10(b) of
the Treaty which provides that when
there exists a surplus, the United
States will provide 1,700,000 acre-feet
annually to Mexico. The remaining
1,467,000 acre-feet of excess
deliveries were due to floodwaters
from tributaries entering the Colorado
River below Hoover Dam and from
releases from Lake Mead in excess of
downstream requirements. Minute No.
240 is described in the Board's 1972
Annual Report and Minute No. 242 is
described in the Board's 1973 Annual
Report.
The Colorado River Basin Salinity
Control Act of 1974 recognized
" . , . replacement of the reject
stream from the desalting plant and of
any Wellton-Mohawk drainage water
bypassed to the Santa Clara
Slough , . . as a national
obligation . . ." The Santa Clara
Slough is adjacent to the Gulf of
California and is the terminus of the
canal constructed to convey
Wellton-Mohawk drainage water and
the reject stream from the desalting
plant through Mexico. Since passage
of the Act, and through December 31,
1979, an accumulative total of
1,099,000 acre-feet has been
discharged from the Wellton-Mohawk
Drain below Morelos Dam, Mexico's
diversion structure on the river, with
the drainage water flowing through
the lined canal to the Santa Clara
Slough since its completion on June
23, 1977. While these bypassed
quantities have been recognized by
the Department of the Interior as a
potential debit against the water to be
salvaged by lining the Coachella
Canal, the surplus waters delivered to
Mexico during 1979 exceed the
accumulated volume of bypassed
flows and thus the debit through 1979
has been canceled.