WSP10311

• File Number: 8200.765
• Description: White River General
• State: CO
• Basin: Yampa/White
• Water Division: 6
• Date: 11/1/1980
• Author: Utah Div of Water Re
• Title: White River Dam Project - Proposed Action Plan
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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major issue in considering this application is the environmental impact on the

lands, the BLM will be required to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS).

This report presents data in answer to questions that have been raised by

the BLM and Solicitor that have so far held up authorization to start work on the

EIS. By letter of June 6, 1979, (copy attached), Governor Matheson nominated

the White River Dam and Reservoir to the Federal Government's "Critical Energy

Facility Program". President Carter's July 15, 1979, nationwide television

speech on energy and ways and means of coping with rising foreign oil prices,

etc. gives added emphasis to the need for this project. If the nomination as a

critical energy facility program is accepted by the President and it is designated

as such, it is anticipated that problems related to initiating environmental

studies and gaining permit approvals will be greatly facilitated.

II. GENERAL INFORMATION

White River is a perennial stream sustained largely by snowmelt runoff

from its headwaters in Colorado. The river bottom through the reservoir basin

consists of a narrow strip of flood plain about 800+ feet wide. The river

meanders considerably and the flood plain is generally covered by deciduous trees

and shrubs of various varieties.

A. Climate

The climate along the reservoir basin is semiarid. Annual precipitation
ranges from about 8 to 10 inches mostly from thunderstorms. Average annual snow
accumulation is about 10 inches but open areas may remain free of snow for most
of the winter. Summers are hot and dry with average July maximum temperature of
o 0
95 F and a mean of 75 F. Winters are relatively dry and cold. The frost free
period is approximately 110 days.

B. Topography, Geology, and Physiography

White River Reservoir is located in the eastern portion of the Uinta Basin,

a broad assymmetric basin located on the northeastern edge of the Colorado Plateau.

The region is characterized by steep-walled canyons with dry washes that are

subject to occasional flash floods. The left abutment of the damsite contains a

ravine which in the design of the auxiliary spillway has been used as a channel

for conveying flood flows in excess of the service spillway capacity safely past

the dam to the stream channel below. The bedrock in this ravine consists of

interbedded sandstone, shaley sandstone and thin lenticular shale beds.

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