WSP12125

• File Number: 8102
• Description: Arkansas River Hydrology
• State: CO
• Basin: Arkansas
• Water Division: 2
• Date: 1/1/1997
• Author: USGS
• Title: Description of the Program Changes - 1989-97- and a User Manual for a Transit-Loss Accounting Program Applied to Fountain Creek Between Colorado Springs and the Arkansas River-Colorado
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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previous month to the appropriate monthly directory.
After the end of a water year, the 12 monthly directo-
ries containing the daily output files, and the appro-
priate data from the other output files, still need to be
archived manually.

Archive of Historic Output Files

(,

All of the output data and files for each water
year from 1989 through 1995 were written to a sepa-
rate reel-type magnetic tape by the archiving software
on the USGS computer system; these tapes were main-
tained and stored at the USGS office in Lakewood.
Beginning in 1996, the accounting program output
archives were maintained and stored at the USGS
office in Pueblo. In 1997, the USGS computer system
that contained the streamflow data base and transit-
loss accounting program was replaced by a decentral-
ized, Unix-based, 'work-station computer system;
therefore, the output archives that were on reel-type
magnetic tapes were transferred to mini-cartridge
tapes to be more compatible with the new computer
technology and storage media, and all the pre-I 996
archives were transferred to the USGS office in
Pueblo.

Archive of Previous Program Versions

During the preparation of this report, the current
(1997) version and four previous versions of the
transit-loss accounting program also were archived to
a cartridge tape that is stored in the USGS office in
Pueblo. The previous versions include (I) the original
program without any user interface that was developed
during the transit-loss study (Kuhn, 1988) and used in
the example application described therein; (2) the
program for the initial implementation in 1989 that
was adapted from the original program by adding a
user interface for data input and the capability for
daily output files; (3) a later version of the initial
implementation with an improved data-input interface
and a slightly modified output: and (4) the version of
the program that was put into use in 1992 after the
1991-92 program changes were completed. The
program archive includes the needed input files, an
example output file, and brief descriptions of the
changes for each version. None of the auxiliary
programs used to compute the daily mean, discharge

data at the gaging stations are included in the program
archive.

USER PERSPECTIVE OF THE TRANSIT-
LOSS ACCOUNTING PROGRAM

The accounting program described in this report
is used as a management tool in the administration of
NSF and TRF water rights along Fountain Creek. Use
of the program in this capacity requires the continual
cooperative efforts of several governmental entities:
(I) the Colorado Division of Water Resources, (2) the
CCS Water Resources Department, (3) the SECWCD,
and (4) the USGS. Discussing the role of each govern-
mental entity in the use of the accounting program is
not the intent of this section; the intent is to indicate
that the actual day-to-day operation of the accounting
program is made by the Colorado Division of Water
Resources. The offices of this State agency involved in
using the accounting program are (I) the Water Divi-
sion 2 Engineer's Office in Pueblo and (2) the District
10 Water Commissioner's Office in Colorado Springs.
These two offices describe their use of the accounting
program in the administration of water rights along
Fountain Creek in the following paragraphs (Joseph
D. Flory and Eddie L.Taylor, Colorado Division of
Water Resources, written commun., 1997):
Under Colorado Water Law, certain
waters not native to a basin may be claimed
for reuse as long as they can be distin-
guished from the native flows of the stream.
Colorado Division of Water Resources
personnel in Water District 10 in Colorado
Springs use the transit-loss program as a tool
to track non-native waters (primarily Colo-
rado Springs transmountain return flows) in
Fountain Creek so that they may be
exchanged into upstream reservoirs or
routed farther down the Arkansas River for
diversion at the Colorado Canal for eventual
reuse.
The program enables the District 10
Water Commissioner to differentiate between
native and non-native waters at various
points along Fountain Creek. This permits
holders 01 native water rights to divert water
available to them under the priority system,
while allowing the non-native waters to be
routed on to the Arkansas River.
Running the program requires a
number 01 daily data inputs. The Water

36 Descriptions 01 the Program Chsnges (1989-97) snd a User Manual lor a Transit-Loss Accounting Program
Applied to Fountain Creek Between Colorado Springs and the Arkanaas River, Colorado