WSP10994

• File Number: 8210.470
• Description: Pacific Southwest Interagency Committee
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 3/1/1962
• Author: PSIAC
• Title: Stock Water Facilities Guide - March 1962
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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001539Results of preliminary studies, in which streamflow records
were used to' detect change in water yield due to land treatment (which
included stock pond developments), were inconclus ive. Further studies
have recently been completed and a final report summarizing the results
should be available sometime during 1962.

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Other studies such as one conducted in the Cheyenne River Basin
in Wyoming by the U. S. Geological Survey concluded that for the period
1951-54 there was a reduction of from 23 to 37 percent (Culler 1961) of
expected natural annual water yield, due to stock water reservoirs on
the 9, 100 s quare miles above Angostura Dam. It is estimated that 9,320
stock ponds, having an aggregate capacity of 52, 360 acre-fe,et, are in
this watershed. This represents a situation where the number of stock
ponds is un~sually high for a 'drainage ,area of that size.

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Estimates of effects of stock ponds on wat",r 'supply' on a river-
basin basis are reported in Senate 'Select Corrimittee Print No. 13 (supra).
Results of this study are shown in table 7. In this study the water yield
at 1000 square miles was assumed to be that available to downstream
water users. All figures in the table, including the estimated percent
reduction in downstream yield due to stock ponds, were computed on
that basis.

Because of the averaging process used in developing the figures
in table '1, they are not applicable for estimating effects of stock water
fac ilit ies on downstream water yields for sub-areas within the river
bas in. The large var iations of topography and climate in the Southwes t
preclude a uniform spacing of stock watering facilities throughout any
major river basin. As an example much of the area is mountainous with
high precipitation and perennial streams. These areas require few stock
watering fac ilities. Conversely there are'large areas of non-productive
desert, badlands, etc., which will never be developed. Consequently
the major ity of stock water facilities are concent,rated in the arid and
semi-arid portions of the Southwest whichhave rangeland suitable for
grazing but which requir e some type of stock water development to insure
an adequate water supply.' Effects of. stock water facilities on downstream
":'!later supplies within these areas can be significantly greater than the
effects estimated in the previously mentioned table.

The wide range of poss ibl e effects on downstream water yields
illustrates the fallacy of applying results from one area to another and
points out the need of analyzing each situation separately and concentrat-
ing on gathering phys ical data rather than cit ing previous studies.
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To make an accurate determination of the effects of stock ponds
on watershed yield at a particular location requires a great deal of data
and a complex hydrologic analysis. Since an analysis of this type involves

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