| OCR Text |
Show 116 UPDATING THE HOOVER DAM DOCUMENTS On July 11, 1969, Assistant Secretary Smith invited the Governors of the seven Basin States to designate representatives to meet with and assist the Department in the preparation of the Operating Criteria. D. State-Federal Meetings Representatives of the seven Basin States and the Department of the Interior met at the Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado, on July 25, 1969. The Bureau of Reclamation provided a draft document dated July 25, 1969, "...for review of basic data pertinent to the preparation of Operating Criteria...." This included, among other things, a bibliography of legal documents, a checklist of data and assumptions, Upper and Lower Basin depletion studies and water measurements, preliminary operation studies, and a draft of proposed Operating Criteria. The material was designed to elicit comments from the participants. In addition, a State-Federal Task Force was created to act on the criteria. At a subsequent meeting held August 7, 1969, at Salt Lake City, the discussions covered the comments from the States on the material provided by the Department in the initial July 25, 1969, meeting at Denver. It also covered Lake Powell bank storage; reservations for flood control storage; estimates of Upper and Lower Basin depletions; definition of terms such as "excess," "surplus," and "spill"; an Upper Basin request that a specific release figure from Lake Powell not be used; e.g., 8.23 maf; a Lower Basin request that 8.25 maf was insufficient because of conveyance losses in the Mexican deliveries; and continuation of the Filling Criteria advocated by the Lower Basin and their termination urged by the Upper Basin so that the Upper Basin would be relieved of the deficiency payments (see Regional Director's memorandum to Files dated August 14, 1969; memorandum from Task Force Chairman to members dated August 28, 1969; and report of Executive Director, Upper Colorado River Commission, dated October 1, 1969). At a meeting on October 30, 1969, at Salt Lake City, discussions centered on the various studies in the Report of the Committee on Probabilities and Test Studies; the drawdown of Lake Mead below elevation 1083 suggested by Arizona; the termination of the deficiency payments urged by the Upper Basin on the grounds that both Lake Mead and Lake Powell are above rated power head; the Lower Basin position that a rule curve was not needed; and the reiteration of the Upper Basin that the reference to the release of 8.3 maf was only because excess water was available and that it was not a firm obligation and did not define the Upper Basin's share of the Mexican Treaty obligation. For the purpose of a briefing session at Washington, D.C., on November 3-5, 1969, it was stated that agreement of the Task Force members seemed possible on the following items in the draft of Operating Criteria: (1) The criteria should be flexible and reexamined at intervals not to exceed 5 or 10 years. (2) When Lake Powell storage is less than Lake Mead storage, the annual release from Lake Powell should be at a predetermined annual rate; e.g., about 8.8 maf in 1970-72, and not less than 8.23 maf after 1972. In the early years of the 10-year period of October 1962 through September 1964 (water years 1963 and 1964) when storage was underway at Glen Canyon Dam, the annual releases to Lake Mead were 2,520,000 and 2,427,000 acre-feet, respectively. To make up the total of 75 maf required by Article III(d) of the Compact for that 10-year period, releases greater than 7.5 maf had to be made in later years. (3) When the content of Lake Powell is greater than that of Lake Mead, releases in addition to the above should be made from Lake Powell to "equalize" storage at Lake Powell and Lake Mead as of, for example, September 30 of each year. (4) For the first 10 years, the demands for consumptive use in the Lower Basin require an estimated average annual release of 8.4 maf. In view of the possibility of the above agreements, it was suggested that the criteria be viable for the first 10-year period during which experience would be gained on other issues; e.g., more precise determination of Lower Basin uses and losses; rule curve for retention of reserve storage in the Upper Basin reservoirs; and rule curve for release of water. D. 1 Upper Basin Views At the briefing session at Washington, D.C., on November 3-5, 1969, the Upper Basin views were discussed. These included: |
