WSP11425

• File Number: 8278
• Description: Title I
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 1/1/3000
• Author: USDOI/BOR
• Title: Maintaining the Colorado River and Controlling Flows
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

Maintaining The Colorado
River & Controlling Flows

As the custodian of the Colorado
River waters in the United States.
the Bureau of Reclamation is
responsible for the control and
maintenance of the river's chan-
nels, banklines, and levees. For the
Colorado River's elaborate system of
dams and reservoirs to work as
designed. the river channel must be
properly controlled and maintained.

The Colorado River carries a tremendous
amount of &edime-nl along lis bottom. Uke
many mature rivers. It tends to meander Irom
one bank to the other, cutting into the
banklines and increasing its sediment load.
The river mo\"es the sediment do.....nstre.1.rn
untillt reaches an area .....here .....ater slo.....s
do.....n. causing some 01 the sediment to drop
by gra\'ity to the river bottom. Large amounts
of sediment thai deposit in various spots in
the river can build up Irom the rj\'er bottom to
form sandbars that can reach the surface of
the river.

Ripmp

One way to attack the sediment problem is to
simply stabilize banks by annorin~ them with
riprap, Riprap consists 01 large rocks and
boulders and is placed on lhe side of earthen
levees or bankhnes to armor and protect them
from riverflows tbat ...."Guld cut into the soil
and erode it if not armored with riprap. ~lany
miles of the banks along the lower Colorado
Rl\'er have been armored with rlprap.

Riprap is mined Irom \'arious rock quarries
and placed in over a hundred stockpiles
strate~lcally located along the river bet"'cen
Davis Dam and the Southerly InternatIonal
Boundary, When maintenance work is needed
or quickly developing problems occur along
the river. the rock material is readily available
in necuby stockpiles, It lakes a considerable
amount 01 time 10 mine rock by blastm:-: and
processing, and more time to haul rock irom a

FaclSheel =-;

TIfE BUREAU OF RECL-UtA TlO,\' mines Its rock tor nprop from
quames located near the Colorado Rn'er, The rock is taken from the
ground. reduced from boulders 10 smaller stones, lhen e/lht'r placed in
stockpifes or used to line the nt't'rbanks,

quarry to the area needing
protection. So, without stock-
piles rock "'ould not be avail-
able for emergency conditions,

river, They can also be used to
control the width of the chan.
nel.

Jetties

DesiIting basins

Another way of reducing
erosion to riverbanks is to con.
struct jetties. or tralnin~ s1nlc,
tures. usually at a slight
downstream angle to aller the
force of the river flow. These
structures usually deflect the
current aw,lY from the bankliflt'
and 10\\'ard the center of the

It is easier and less expenSI\'e
to intercept and remove sedi-
ment before it gets moved into
hundreds 01 miles of irrigation
canals, since they can be quile
expensive 10 clean out.

Sediment is removed in
strategic locations. usually a:
deslltin~ basins located at the

Watt'rs of the ColeJrado 5t'rtt>s