OCR Text |
Show CHAPTER VII 123 (a) The requirements stated in Article III(l); (b) Actual and forecast quantities of active storage on Lake Mead; (c) Estimate of net inflow to Lake Mead for the current years; (d) Historic streamflows, including the most critical period of record; (e) Priorities set forth in Article II(a) of the Decree in Arizona v. California; and (f) The purposes stated in Article 1(1) of these Operating Criteria. The shortage provisions of Article II(B)(3) of the Decree shall thereupon become effective and consumptive uses from the mainstream shall be restricted to the extent determined by the Secretary to be required by Section 301(b) of Public Law 90-537. Article IV is entitled "Definitions" and provides, in addition to the definitions in Section 606 qf Public Law 90-537, that: (1) "Spills," as used in Article 111(3) (c) herein, means water released from Lake Powell which cannot be utilized for project purposes, including, but not limited to, the generation of power and energy; (2) "Surplus," as used in Article 111(3) (b) herein, is water which can be used to meet consumptive use demands in the three Lower Division States in excess of 7.5 maf/yr but is not to be construed as applied to the term "surplus" in the Colorado River Compact; (3) "Net inflow to Lake Mead," as used in Article 111(3)(b)(iv) and (c)(iii) herein, represents the annual inflow to Lake Mead in excess of losses from Lake Mead; (4) "Available capability," as used in Article 11(4) herein, means that portion of the total capacity of the powerplant that is physically available for generation. The Operating Criteria were published in Volume 35, Federal Register No. 112, Wednesday, June 10, 1970, at pages 8951 and 8952 and appear in Appendix 701. The Department of Interior's explanation of decisions on the suggestions and recommendations of the Upper and Lower Basin States, dated June 9, 1970, appears in Appendix 702. N. Operations Under Operating Criteria A draft copy of the Secretary's first annual operating report entitled "Operation of the Colorado River, 1971-1972" circulated for review and comment, used a method of computing Upper Basin reserve storage required by Section 602(a) of Public Law 90-537 in order to meet Compact deliveries during the most critical dry period on the Colorado while maintaining minimum power pools in Upper Basin reservoirs. However, following receipt of comments, the final report avoided the issue of determining a numerical value for Section 602(2) storage by stating that "the accumulation of '602 (a) Storage' is not the criterion governing the release of water during the current year" (Annual Report 1971-Colorado River Board of California). This finding was repeated in the Second through Eighth Annual Reports. By way of illustrating operations under the Operating Criteria, the fifth annual report of the Secretary to the Congress and to the Governors of the Colorado River Basin States in 1976 stated that water delivered to the Lower Basin at Lee Ferry was 9,274,000 acre-feet and 87,212,000 acre-feet for the 1-year and 10-year periods, respectively, ending September 30, 1975. Releases and diversions of 8,453,000 acre-feet from Lake Mead were made during the 1975 water year to satisfy all downstream requirements, including those of Mexico. Because the projected 1975 end-of-year active storage in Lake Powell would exceed the active storage in Lake Mead with a minimum release, an additional 1,024,000 acre-feet was released from Lake Powell to equalize storage in Lake Mead. The projected operations for water year 1976 contemplated a total release of 9,606,000 acre-feet from Lake Powell to satisfy storage equilization requirements. That, plus the flow of the Paria River, will result in the delivery to the Lower Basin at Lee Ferry of about 9,625,000 acre-feet. The Secretary's Fifth Annual Report concluded that the 602(a) Storage forecast for September 30, 1975, on the basis of average runoff, exceeds the quantity required to protect expected future uses of water in the Upper Basin and, therefore, the releases from Lake Powell were projected to be above the minimum of 8.23 acre-feet in order to equalize storage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead (see Commissioner of Reclamation's memorandum of January 13, 1976, to the Secretary through the Assistant Secretary, Land and Water Resources). |