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Show Reservoirs reduce water shortage Despite some projections of a water shortage, residents of Utah who get their water from reservoirs should have enough water during the summer months, according to Upper Colorado Regional Director Bill Plummer, of the Water and Power Resources Service. Nearly all of our reservoirs have a greater carry-over water content this year than last year," he said. Unusually light snowfall throughout the state has led many Utahns to fear that they will not have enough water for gardens, drinking and other purposes. pur-poses. May 1 forecasts would seem to support these fears since they show significant differences between last spring's 130 percent of normal flows into Lake Powell, and this spring's 40 percent of normal. However, because of last year's higher flows, the carry-over storage in nearly all the reservoirs in the Upper Colorado Region is greater than average. The heavier moisture last year brought exceptionally good runoffs run-offs and created less demands on the reservoirs. "The 38 reservoirs within the Unner Colorado Region filled last year to at least 98 percent capacity," noted Plummer. "This gave them a good headstart this year and leads us to believe that residents of Utah who get their water from our reservoirs will have more water available to them than those who get their water from stream flows. Additionally. Water and Power is selling some surplus water from mainstem reservoirs of the Colorado River Storage Project. Those main-stem main-stem reservoirs include Lake Powell and Flaming Gorge in Utah; Blue Mesa in Colorado; and Navajo in New Mexico. Also, other projects with regulated reservoir storage administered by the Upper Colorado Region may have minor quantities of surplus water available to meet temporary demands. To meet emergency or temporary demands, interim water contracts can be arranged upon short notice |