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. iCl ( . .. . ~ <.,,1 " .' . l .f SECTION 1 THE WATERSHED WORK PLAN INDIAN WASH WATERSHED Mesa County, Colorado September 1961 SUl'1MARY OF PLAN General The proposed watershed protection and flood prevention project for Indian Wash Watershed is sponsored by the Upper Grand Valley Soil Conservation District, Mesa County, and the City of Grand Junction, Colorado. The U.S. Corps of Anny Engineers participated with the U. S. Soil Conservation Service in a joint preliminary investigation to determine if detailed studies were justified. The Soil Conservation Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Land Management, U. S. Department of Interior, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board provided technical assistance in the detailed studies leading to the preparation of the watershed work plan. The area covered by this work plan includes 15.06 square miles (9,640 acres) in the drainage basin of Indian Wash in Mesa County, Colorado. Indian Wash heads on the escarpment of the Little Book Cliffs northeast of Grand Junction and drains southward through the eastern edge of the city to the Colorado River. Approximately 73.2 percent of the area is desert rangeland, 13.1 percent irrigated cropland, and 13.7 percent 'urban or miscellaneous. The principal watershed problem is extensive damage from floodwater and sediment to irrigated cropland, irrigation facilities, residential and commercial property, streets, highways, bridges, and railroads in and adjacent to the City of Grand Junction. These floodwater and sediment damages are caused by high intensity, short duration thunder- storms, which occur primarily in the upper portions of the watershed. Storms of this type cause damaging floods on the average of once every six years.