WSP07257

• File Number: 8210.140.20.A
• Description: Colorado River - Colo River Basin - Orgs/Entities - CRBSF - California - Colo River Board of Calif
• State: CA
• Date: 10/13/1998
• Author: Gerald Zimmerman
• Title: Executive Directors Monthly Report to the Colorado River Board of California
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Colorado River Qperations

Last month I reported that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) was considering
making space building releases from Hoover Dam earlier than nonnal and above those required in
order to meet the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood control regulations for Hoover Dam. The
Corps ofEnginecrs regulations require that 5.35 maf of vacant space be available in the Colorado
River reservoir system on January 1-. Included in the Board folder is a news release from
Reclamation announcing that space building releases would begin on September 9dl. Reclamation
currently is planning to release approximately 650,000 acre-feet of water from storage above down
stream requirements by December 31, 1998. Reclamation's goal is to release 244,000 acre-f~~
above down stream requirements during September and 145,000 acre-feet during October. Based
on precipitation in the Basin during that period, Reclamation will then evaluate the reieases that
would be required for November and December.

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Reclamation has proposed two intra-agency agreements between itself and the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM). The agreements are for the delivery of water to Federal lands, which are
administered by BLM in Ari7Dna and California. One agreement is for the lands in Ari7Dna and the
other is for the lands in California. Both agreements are based on Secretarial reservations of water,
and set forth the tenDs and conditions for the delivery, measurement, and use of the water that has
been reserved for BLM....tlministered lands. The extension in the public comment period was
granted to both states of Ari7Dna and California to allow sufficient time to comment on those two
draft agreements. Included in the Board folder are two copies of letters confirming Reclamation's
extension ofthc public comment period until November 18,1998.

On June 22"', the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, published in the
Federal Register, a Notice of Public Comment Period on Proposed Agreement for Leasing of
Colorado River Water alld Non-Irrigation ofiAnds on Chemehuevi IlIdian Reservatioll. As a result
of the Board's and others' requests, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has extended the comment period
until November 24dl (see notice in the Board folder).

Two meetings have been held with the legal counsels and/or agency managers for each of
the agencies and the Attorney General Office in order to prepare the Board's comments and policy
statement for consideration at its next meeting. Comments regarding the scope of the issues being
raised by the proposed agreement have been categorized into three areas: I) legal issues/constraints;
2) policy issues; and 3) issues regarding specific agreement provisions. The resulting draft list of
issues will be discussed during the Executive Session prior to the Board meeting.

Reclamation has distributed and the California agencies have received Reclamation's Lower
Colorado River Accoullling System (LCRAS) - Demo1lStration of Technology report for the calendar
year 1996. This LCRAS document is currently under review by each of the agencies' technical staffs
and the Board staff. Those representatives, comprising California's Technical Committee
(CTC),will meet on Wednesday, October 21, 1998, to discuss their findings from their respective
reviews of the report and will prepare to attend Reclamation's second two-day technical consultation
meeting to be held in Henderson, Nevada on November 4 and 5, 1998. Reclamation states in the
Executive Snmm,,,y of their report that, "The goal of the LCRAS program is to improve the Decree
Accounting Report using state-of-the-art technologies. Reclamation will continue the process of

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