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<br />OJJ195 <br /> <br />24 <br /> <br />to become clear again., <br /> <br />Water temperatures for the Hay 2, 197~ release were obtained on various <br />reaches of the River before, during, and after the first wave of the reser- <br />voir release. These temperatures were taken, both by hand-held thermometers <br />and water temp~~~ture recorders and those the U. S. BureQu of Reclamation <br />records from Pu&blo, Indicate that the River water temperature Is a direct <br />function of atmospheric condItQ-9ns. _ ThIs Is In part demonstrated by a 5 to <br />100F. change which occured In the River water on a dally basis. It there- <br />fore was not possible to use a temperature differential, during the spring <br />season, of the released water versus the River water to determine the travel <br />time of the physical water released. The atmospheric conditions which di- <br />rectly affect the River water temperatu~ would be similar to those which <br />affect ev~ppratlon of RIver water, such as aIr temperature, wInd speed, aIr <br />vapor pre~s~re and cloud cover. <br /> <br />Drift studies were also made during the Hay 2, 1970 release.- At two <br />locations, floating objects cons Istlng of weighted ping pong balls were used <br />to determine the surface velocity and character of Lake Creek and the Arkansas <br />River. The first test consisted of dumping over 100 ping pong balls down- <br />stream of the Twin Lakes outlet Just before the Hay 2 release. SlIghtly over <br />one mile downstream, none of the pl~g pong balls were observed. This was <br />probab I y due to the ping pong ba lIS$' be I ng swept I n to edd I es and poo 1 s a long <br />the sides of Lake Creek during the first fillIng of "channel storage". <br /> <br />A second float experiment was performed on a reach of the Arkansas River <br />frbm,Splke Buck, near Texas Creek, downstream to the Parkdale gaging station, <br />that consisted of two phases. First, 10 obJects were~eI6~~~d and visually <br />"@Iowed downstream until all were sidetracked In eddies along the stream. <br />This occurred within one mile. The second phase consisted of maintaining <br />two ping pong balls In the higher velocity main stream of the River from <br />SpIke Buck to Parkdale. ThIs Involved physIcally followIng the objects and <br />replacing each ball which became trapped In side eddies. This second phase <br />covered a reach of the river approximately 5 miles In length a few hours after <br />the .front wave had passed' through the area. The average ping pong ball speed <br />In the main stream was determined to be 6.1 feet per second, whereas the wave <br />front average speed In the same section of the River was determined to be 6.0 <br />feet per second. It was demonstrated that the main stream surface velocity, <br />soon after a reservoIr release, In this reach of the Arkansas River Is near, <br />'and perhaps greater, than the wave front velocity obtained by a reservoir <br />re 1 ea se . <br /> <br />GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF A RESERVOIR RUN <br /> <br />In order to bring out the mechanisms operating during a reservoir re- <br />lease, the next few paragraphs are a qualitative description of what happens <br />In the River when water Is released from upstream storage reservoirs. <br /> <br />The chain of events begins when water users In the lower Arkansas River <br />basin (mainly Water District 14) call for delivery of a specific quantity of <br />water stored In one or more of three main reservoirs In the upper basin -- <br />