Albuquerque Area Office

Water Operations Group

Annual Operations Plan - Calendar Year 2001

Jemez Canyon Reservoir: The Corps as part of a proposed settlement agreement in the Minnow v. Martinez lawsuit is looking at storing native flows in biquiu and Jemez Canyon Reservoirs to supplement flows in the main stem of the Rio Grande for the benefit of the RGSM. The amount of water during the 2001 in excess of demand that could be stored in Jemez is approximately 20,000 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 Jemez Canyon Dam releases will be limited to approximately 20 cfs during the time period when excess flows are being stored. The release rate 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 100 cfs would be made up of a release of 20 cfs from Jemez Canyon and 80 cfs from Abiquiu. ). Storage at Jemez Canyon Reservoir would be limited by the available amount of runoff and not exceed a total pool volume of 24,425 acre-feet, which is the top of the sediment pool. 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. According to current projections, the maximum release from Jemez would be 1,500 cfs during late May or early June to provide a maximum release of 5,000 cfs from Cochiti and Jemez Canyon Dams. Other then storing native flows for supplemental water during the runoff the project will be operated to meet demands.

[Jemez Reservoir]