Laserfiche WebLink
<br />G- <br />8, . <br /> <br />003004 <br /> <br />COLORADO WATER <br /> <br />June 1996 <br /> <br />Figure 3. Severe and Sustained Drought Flow Sequence (top, right scale) and the Resulting Combined <br />Lake Powell and Lake Mead Contents from CRIM and CRM (Harding et aI, 1995). <br /> <br /> 100 20 <br />.. <br />~ <br />. "'-...- .. <br />u ~ <br />. . <br />c 7S " U <br />" . <br />g c <br /> 0 <br /> " <br />. I E <br />~ -, <br />. , , SSOG-"lNght S <br /><; , 1 +-:- oi <br />;;; , -- <br /> " ~ <br />c so , 10 . <br />. ~ <br />~ ~ ' > <br />0- 1'-,' . <br />. ; <br />~ . <br />. ~ <br />~ . CRNl'I'lC/IdeI _~7 !!l <br />. ! - I <br />.. ! <br />0- ... , ~ <br />~ 25 5 ~ <br />. .. <br />. <br />'" CAlIolInOlMI! ~ <br /> c <br />. c <br />~ < <br />. <br />~ -,. <br /> 0 0 <br /> 0 10 20 30 AO <br /> Vea' <br /> <br /> <br />Just the opposite was true of the Upper Basin states, The <br />estimated present value of discounted economic damages, <br />excluding salinity, for the entire drought was $5 billion, 45 <br />percent of which was to consumptive uses. To say that <br />nonconsumptive uses would sustain 55 percent of drought <br />damages is an understatement, because it ignores both <br />salinity and nonmonetary damages, such as extirpation of <br />endangered species, <br /> <br />Both local extirpations of endangered species and loss of <br />wetlands occurred as a result of the drought and may have <br />been aggravated by management measures taken to protect <br />consumptive uses. Most instances of environmental <br />deterioration are to some degree reversible. In the case of <br />threatened and endangered species, however, losses are not <br />so easily reversible. Localized extirpations were predicted <br />in Flaming Gorge, Navajo and Lake Powell reservoirs, and <br />in the Green River below Flaming Gorge. All of the <br />reservoir extirpations were eventually reversed, but that in <br />the Green River was not. <br /> <br /> <br />DROUGHT PERFORMANCE OF ALTERNATIVE <br />OPERATING RULES <br /> <br />Several potential revisions to the Law of the River were <br />fonnulated and evaluated, both by SSD institutional <br />researchers and by those who participated in the gaming <br />experiment. Among these changes were: <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Adopting a reverse equalization rule, which would tend to <br />maintain similar water levels in Lakes Mead and <br />Powell (the existing equalization rule protects Mead at the <br />expense of Powell); <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />temporarily ignoring the Upper Basin's delivery <br />obligation to the Lower Basin to avoid Upper Basin <br />shortages at times when no shortages were imposed upon <br />the Lower Basin (in effect sh",ing system-wide shortages <br />proportionally among the basin ~tates); <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Revising reseIVoir operating roles to store water in <br />headwaters reservoirs as long as possible (thus <br />minimizing evaporative losses); and <br />