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Show CHAPTER XII 207 (9) Lower Basin Water Use Not Prejudicial to Upper Basin Rights of the Upper Basin to consumptive use of water apportioned to that Basin by the Colorado River Compact would not be prejudiced or reduced by any use thereof in the Lower Basin (pages 12 through 14, Colorado River Board of California, Annual Report, 1965-1966). H.6.7. Criteria for Long Range Operation of Reservoirs Section 601 of H.R.4671, as approved by the Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation on June 27, 1966, would direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish equitable criteria for the coordinated long-range operation of the reservoirs constructed pursuant to the Boulder Canyon Project Act, the Colorado River Storage Act, and H.R.4671. These criteria would be prepared and reviewed annually in consultation with representatives of the seven Colorado River Basin States and would be consistent with the Law of the River. The language was developed in a series of inter-Basin negotiations. Its inclusion was deemed essential by Upper Basin spokesmen who were concerned that the operation of the reservoirs could be detrimental to Upper Basin interests because of (1) lack of specific operating procedures in the filling criteria for Lake Powell, promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior on April 14, 1962, and (2) lack of official interpretation of certain provisions of the Colorado River Compact, particularly Article III, paragraphs (c), (d) and (e). These provisions require: III{c) that obligations to Mexico be met first out of surplus and then by sharing of the burden of any deficiencies equally between the Upper and Lower Basins; III(d) that the States of the Upper Division shall not cause the flow of the river at Lee Ferry to be depleted below 75 million acre-feet in any consecutive 10-year period; and III(e) that the States of the Upper Division shall not withhold water and the States of the Lower Division shall not require the delivery of water which cannot reasonably be applied to domestic and agricultural uses. The objective of Section 601 of H.R.4671 was to avoid uncertainties caused by varying interpretations of the Compact and to provide for a sharing between Basins of the benefits of wet years and the burden of drawdowns during droughts. California stated that its studies showed that operation of Lake Powell under a rigid rule curve as originally proposed by the Upper Basin, based upon the Lee Ferry delivery obligation of Article IH(d) and the advent in any point in time of the most critical drought in history would not only (1) require the maintenance of progressively larger quantities of holdover storage in Lake Powell at the expense of storage in Lake Mead, as Upper Basin depletions increase, but would also (2) limit the regulatory capability of Lake Powell and possibly (3) result in excessive spills from Lake Powell and thereby a loss of power production. Lower Basin States representatives urged the use of a probability approach as being more equitable for determining the amount of storage to be retained in the Upper Basin reservoirs at any time. On the basis of the 1896-1965 average water supply, there would be better than a 25 percent chance that the major reservoirs on the river will be full by the end of 1975 and that on the basis of the 1922-1965 average, there would be a 10 percent chance that the reservoirs will be full by that time. The year 1975 was considered significant since it was projected that the Central Arizona Project would put a large new demand on the river then. As a result of the studies and negotiations, Section 601 of the bill approved by the House committee contained a list of priorities to govern the storage of water in storage units of the Colorado River Storage Project and releases of water from Lake Powell. The priorities are (1) releases in accordance with Article IH(c) of the Compact, (2) releases in accordance with Article III(d), and (3) accumulation of storage in the Upper Basin and releases to meet uses specified in Article IH(e). Compromise language was agreed upon in Section 601 (b) (3) which would direct the Secretary, in determining the quantity of storage in Lake Powell "reasonably necessary" pursuant to the Compact, to consider "all relevant factors (including, but not limited to, historic streamflows, the most critical period of record and probabilities of water supply)." (Emphasis supplied.) (See pages 29 and 30, Colorado River Board of California, Annual Report 1965-1966.) |