Albuquerque Area Office

Water Operations Group

Annual Operations Plan - Calendar Year 2001

Abiquiu Reservoir: The Corps of Engineers (Corps) does not anticipate any flood control operations at Abiquiu Reservoir. The Corps as part of a proposed settlement agreement in the Minnow v. Martinez lawsuit is looking at storaging native flows in Abiquiu and Jemez Canyon Reservoirs to supplement flows in the main stem of the Rio Grande for the benefit of the Rio Grande silvery minnow (RGSM). The amount of water during the 2001 snowmelt runoff in excess of demand that could be stored in Abiquiu is approximately 40,000 acre-feet. Release of the stored supplemental water would start in late June or early July, and continue through the end of the irrigation season. The Abiquiu and Jemez Canyon releases will be limited to approximately 150 and 20 cfs respectively, during the time period when excess flows are being stored. The release rates could increase in order to meet demand. The release rate from Abiquiu and Jemez Canyon Reservoirs during the summer would be proportional to the amount of supplemental water stored in each reservoir. Preliminary estimates show that the target release of approximately 100 cfs would be made up of a release of 20 cfs from Jemez Canyon and 80 cfs from Abiquiu. ). Storage at Abiquiu would be limited by the available amount of runoff and not exceed a total pool volume of 183,381 acre-feet. The amount of water available for release for silvery minnow purposes from Abiquiu and Jemez Canyon Reservoirs under the proposal would not exceed 30,000 acre-feet in a given year.

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