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<br />EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br /> <br />This report provides updated flood flows for the mainstem of the Eagle River from <br />Minturn, Colorado to the Eagle-Garfield County Line. Flows are presented for the 10, <br />50, 100, and 500 year recurrence intervals (p = 0.10, 0.02, 0.01 and 0.002, respectively). <br />The primary basis for the study is historical stream gauging data available at the time the <br />report was prepared. Areal adjustments were made where gage data was lacking. <br />Where calculated flow values did not vary by more than 10 percent from previously <br />published Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Study flow <br />values, previously published values are reported. Due to the relative short duration of <br />portions of the flow data, additional data in future years may allow the conclusions to be <br />altered. <br /> <br />The study was authorized by the Colorado Water Conservation Board and Eagle County <br />Commissioners. The purpose of the study Was to update flood hydrology on the <br />mainstem of the Eagle River as previous studies published by the FEMA in May of 1980 <br />did not cover this reach of the Eagle River. This study was funded by the Colorado <br />Water Conservation Board and was performed under contract between Eagle County <br />and Water Resource Consultants, LLC, of Rifle, Colorado. <br /> <br />Calculated flood flows for specific reaches of the main stem of the Eagle River are <br />summarized in the Table 1 below. It is important to note that the flow value for the 100- <br />year event in Minturn has increased significantly - from 2,800 cfs to 3,490 cfs for the 100 <br />year runoff event. This is an increase of 25 percent. Although evaluating the Eagle <br />River through the Town Minturn was not originally in the scope of work requested by <br />CWCB and Eagle County, necessary efforts to produce reliable data henceforth included <br />analysis of gages upstream from Minturn. Also, a gage on the Eagle River at Eagle was <br />deemed unreliable, as regression analysis showed higher flow values at this location <br />than further downstream at a gage with more than four times the length of record. <br /> <br />An areal analysis was performed where gage data from mainstem gages or tributary <br />gages was lacking. Observation has shown that areas above 10,000 feet in elevation <br />are the primary source of snowmelt flooding potential. Correlations of areas above <br />10,000 feet to calculated peak runoff resulted in extremely good correlation coefficients <br />of r2=0.97 to r2=0.98. <br />