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1560 IV. Operation of the Frying Pan · Arkansas Project A. Explanation of water management objectives and actions to optimize yield The purpose of presenting a baseline hydro graph for the Arkansas River is to compare the water needed to support natural reso!,rce values with flows designed to optimize water available for consumptive uses. The baseline Arkansas River hydrograph presented in this section represenrs Arkansas River flows from 1982 to 1995, incor- poraring Fryingpan-Arkansas operations during thar rime period. When milizing the baseline hvdrographs in this seerion, the foilowing limita- cions need to be kept in mind: The Fryingpan-Arkansas Project regulates only a fraction of total flows in the upper Arkansas River basin, and other legallinstitutional facrors playa large role in determining How rates. However, the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project is among the largest of many factors in determining flow races experi- enced in the Arkansas River corridor. This baseline does not mimic all of the hisroric operations of the Project, because significant changes in flows have been implemented as vari- ous componentS of the project have come on line, and as Reclamation gained more experience in ope racing a new project. The 1982-1995 period may not be representative of me entire range of hydrologic conditions that could be expetience In the furnre. This baseline represenrs an operation which is in variance from me DNR How recommendations mat have been implemented since 1990. This baseline developed in this secrion is a repre- sentation of whar flows would be expected to occur in the river corridor if the Fryingpan- Arkansas Project (Project) were to be operated, today, to best achieve the following goals: . Maximize storage of Project water . Minimize unnecessary spilling of non-Project water . Minjmize loss of Project warer to ~vaporarion . Maximize energy generation at the Mt. Elbert Powerplant Full implementation of these goals would entail the fullowing Project opetations: . Water would be evacuated ,rom Turquoise Lake and Twin Lakes and stored in Pueblo Reservoir, via releases through rhe Nlr. Elbert Conduit and from Twin Lakes Dam, before the spring snowmelt. Releases would be in a quancity sufficient to allow tefilling of the twO reservoirs with water imported from the West Slope by mid-July. . Water would not be evacuated ,rom the upper teservoirs before March because an accurate forecast of spring runoff can not be made until a significant porcion of the high elevation snowpack has accumulared. . It is important that water be evacuated from Turquoise Lake before the runoff due to the limited capacity of the Mr. Elbert Conduit. The capacity of the Mt. Elbert Conduit, which carries water from Turquoise Lake to Twin Lakes, is significandv less than the com- bined spring inflow of the transmoum:ain tun~ nels and native Lake Fork flows during the runoff. If sufficient space in Turquoise Lake has not been evacuated, then releases from Sugarloaf Dam to Lake Fork would be neces- sary. Releases in excess of cite minimum 13