BOARD0215

• Board Meeting Date: 5/20/2002
• Description: OWCDP Section - Colorado Drought & Water Supply Assessment
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD

, Department of Natural Resources
Bill Owens, Governor
.reg Walcher, DNR Executive Director
od Kuharich, CWCB Director

April 2002

Arkansas River Basin Drought Impact Fact Sheet
Water Division 2

Reservoir Storage

Reservoir storage in the Basin is about
40 percent of average. Municipal and
irrigation reservoirs are affected by the
low snowpack and runoff conditions.

Use of Storage

Reservoir storage will be needed for
irrigation almost immediately unless
weather conditions change with
significant rainfall events. Because of the
early draw on irrigation reservoirs and
poor potential that these reservoirs will
have a chance to refill as they do most . '. . \ .'
.years during runoff, it is likely major ~_,._ , ..,-\ :?1t~\... '~ ".
irrigation reservoirs will be empty by the
end of the season or even before. Significant impacts are likely to recreation users due to lower water levels.

Streamflow

Overall, the upper Arkansas April 2002 flows appears to be about 85 percent of the lowest April values. The
lower portion of the Arkansas River appears to be slightly above the lowest monthly value.

Arkansas River at Las Animas lowest recorded value for the month of April for the years 1975 through 1999
was 10.8 cfs in 1978. In April 2002, the lowest value was approximately 21 cfs.

Water Administration

The river call is emulating the stream flow condition analysis above and is slightly more senior than the
average. In April 2002, the river call has oscillated around 1884. 1978 appears to be a low flow period and
for the month of April the river call was 1874.

Compliance with the Arkansas River Compact will focus much attention on the administration of Division
of Water Resources and enforcement of the Amended Use Rules for wells in the Arkansas River Basin
under drought conditions. A number of the large irrigation ditches with water rights that are comparatively
junior are anticipating fairly poor surface water irrigation supplies and are making cropping and irrigation
decisions accordingly.

Comparison to Prior Years

The period from 1972 through 1978 probably was the last time that the water conditions were similar.

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For more information about this or other water resource topics, please contact the CWCB at:
1313 Sherman Street, Room 721, Denver, CO 80203
Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] Internet: www.cwcb.state.co.us