Aspinall Unit Reservoirs

Blue Mesa

Current Status

(Last Updated: December 5, 2016)

Crystal Dam is currently releasing 600 cfs and the Gunnison Tunnel has been shut down for the 2016 irrigation season. River flows in the Black Canyon are approximately 600 cfs. The November unregulated inflow to Blue Mesa Reservoir was 26,000 af (84 percent of average) was nearly equal to the forecasted volume of 27,000 af (87 percent of average). The end of November reservoir elevation for Blue Mesa was 7492.53 feet. The peak elevation of Blue Mesa Reservoir for Water Year 2016 occurred on July 7, 2016 when the elevation reached 7515.98 feet above sea level. This elevation corresponds to a live storage level of 798,702 acre-feet (96 percent of full capacity).

Inflows to Blue Mesa for the next three months are projected to be below average: with December , January and February forecasted unregulated inflow volumes of 24,000 af (92 percent of average), 22,000 af (92 percent of average) and 19,000 af (86 percent of average), respectively.

The Aspinall Unit Working Group is an open public forum for information exchange between Reclamation and the stakeholders of the Aspinall Unit. The public is encouraged to attend and comments on the operations and plans presented by Reclamation at these meetings. Meeting notes from past working Group meetings are posted on the Working Group webpage. For more information on this group and these meetings please contact Erik Knight in the Grand Junction Area Office at (970) 248-0629.

The next meeting of the Aspinall Unit Working Group will be held on Thursday, January 19th, 2017 at 1:00 pm at the Holiday Inn Express located in Montrose, Colorado.

To view the most current reservoir elevation, content, inflow and release, click on: Blue Mesa Reservoir Data or Crystal Reservoir Data. To view minutes from the last Aspinall meeting, click on:Meeting Notes.

Additional Information

Last Updated: 12/7/16