Colorado scientist Brad Udall spent hours digging — with frustration — through the federal government’s 700-page proposal for managing key dams and reservoirs in the Colorado River Basin over the next three years. … Udall [senior water and climate research scientist at Colorado State University] is one of many water experts and officials across the West who are carefully analyzing the federal proposal released Oct. 25 by the Bureau of Reclamation. The draft document focuses on how water is stored in and released from two key reservoirs: Lake Powell and Lake Mead. It says basin conditions have improved and outlines options to either maintain the status quo or to conserve 3 million acre-feet of water in the Lower Basin … Udall had some concerns, mainly that the federal analysis could be too optimistic.