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<br />Discharges for streams with drainage areas greater than 15 square miles were calculated using <br />a log-Pearson Type ill frequency analysis (Reference 41). As is typical in Colorado, flood <br />events in the study area comprise two distinct and generally independent populations <br />(i.e., cain and snowmelt floods). <br /> <br />For this reason, it was necessary to analyze the rain and snowmelt events separately. Each <br />type of flood event was assumed to follow log-Pearson Type ill distribution. At each of 15 <br />USGS gaging stations with at least 15 years of record, two annual peak flood series were <br />determined, respectively, for the cain events and snowmelt events from streamflow charts. <br />Three statistical parameters, the mean, standard deviation, and skew, which define the <br />log-Pearson Type ill distribution, were then computed for each type of flood event. The <br />statistical parameters are intuitively dependent on watershed characteristics and <br />hydrometeorologic conditions in the region. Two basin parameters, drainage area and mean <br />watershed elevation, which most significantly affect the magnitudes of floods, are regarded as <br />independent variables in the discharge predictive regression analyses. The regression <br />equations, including only the significant independent variables for each type of event, were <br />used to compute the flood-frequency curve at any ungaged site, given the drainage area and <br />mean watershed elevation. These two frequency curves, one for rain events and the other for <br />snowmelt events, were then statistically combined to give a composite flood-frequency curve <br />that defines the flood-frequency curve for the un gaged site in question. <br /> <br />Discharges for streams with less than 15 square miles of drainage area were calculated using <br />the Colorado Urban Hydrographic Procedure (CUHP) (Reference 42). The 10-, 50-, and <br />100-year discharges were calculated directly, whereas the 500-year was estimated by <br />extrapolation. Peak discharges at selected locations in the study area were obtained by routing <br />CUHP flood hydrographs for each subbasin. <br /> <br />Peak discharges for the South Platte River were developed as part of the FIS for Douglas <br />County (Reference 20). In that study, a log-Pearson Type III analysis (Reference 41) was used <br />to calculate the discharges. Streamflow data from USGS stream-gaging stations located at <br />South Platte (Gage No. 06707500) and below Cheesman Lake (Gage No. 06701500) were <br />used in the frequency analysis. <br /> <br />The hydrologic analyses for Lena Gulch upstream of West 6th Avenue, Jackson Gulch, <br />Kenneys Run, and Clear Creek, upstream of the Burlington Northern Railroad were <br />developed as part of the FIS for the City of Golden (Reference 5). In that study, the peak <br />discharges for Clear Creek above the Burlington Northern Railroad were obtained from the <br />USACE, Omaha District (Reference 43). The USACE established peak discharge frequency <br />relationships for floods of 10-, 50-, 100-, and 500-year recurrence intervals. A log-Pearson <br />Type ill analysis (Reference 41) was conducted on the discharge records for the Clear Creek <br />USGS stream gages at Golden (1911-76) and Derby (1934-76); however, the statistical <br />parameters computed by these methods were not sufficiently reliable to predict the frequency <br />of extreme events. In lieu of a discharge-frequency analysis, a rainfall-runoff approach was <br />used. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Catchment Model (Reference 44) was <br />constructed foc the 400-square-mile area above the Golden gage, and a storm water <br />management model (Reference 45) was constructed for the 175-square-mile area between the <br />Golden and Derby gages. The rainfall depths used in the analysis were based on data <br />obtained from the 1973 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report, <br /> <br />25 <br />