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<br />Division of Water Resources - Don West <br /> <br />The June Water Supply Conditions Update Report can be found at htto://water.state.co.us/pubs/swsi.asp but a brief <br />synopsis is as follows. SWSI's lowest values form a diagonal band from northwest to southeast and include <br />Yampa/White, Colorado and Arkansas Basins for the lowest values in stream flows <br /> <br />South Platte Basin - is running on average, reservoirs were about normal, in the South Platte Basin, reservoir storage <br />is the highest component of this SWSI calculation. At the Kersey gage it was better than 2002 but still well below <br />average. For example it is running at 400 CFS this year and 2400 CFS is the long term average. Don't expect <br />additional water into storage and this will be bad for agricultural users. Many cities have implemented their drought <br />plans some time ago. The end of summer will likely be dry this year. Empire and Jackson reservoirs will drop <br />because of agricultural demand. <br /> <br />Arkansas Basin - Stream flow is heavily weighted, river was on par with 2002. In April and May we broke away a bit, <br />trans mountain water are well below normal, the Fry-Ark allocated 10,000 AF of water this year and a typical year is <br />50-60,000 AF. We will have administration of rules related to the compacts, wells will be regulated, when we deal <br />with the Arkansas. Mr Jack Byers, Assistant State Engineer, added to this report: John Martin Reservoir is down <br />because of releases and agricultural reservoirs operating as they are supposed to, (empty and the end of summer). <br />There was discussion about the new Tamarisk eradication program outside of Pueblo. It is designed to reduce losses <br />along the Arkansas by removing, cutting and burning Tamarisk that line the banks. The goal is to reduce losses and <br />improve the water management scheme. The John Martin Reservoir releases are for compact obligations. <br /> <br />Rio Grande Basin - stream flows are up and above the average but reservoir storage is a bit below average. The Rio <br />Grande at Del Norte gage is at average. The Alamosa office says streams have peeked, May was dry, and they have <br />made a storage release early to offset dry conditions. <br /> <br />Gunnison Basin - Is right at average. May was bit cooler and snow was melting out slower and there is more around <br />this month. The Division office in Grand Mesa said reservoirs can fill this year. Blue Mesa will reach 80 to 85% of <br />full. There is a call on the Uncompaghre River. Reservoir recreation use will good, but stream flows for rafting will <br />be lower than desirable. Local fire managers are worried about fire danger in the Colorado River basin. <br /> <br />Yampa/White Basin - this computed value has no reservoir storage and stream flow factor is quite low, many streams <br />and rivers went under administration at the end of May. Irrigation reservoirs have begun releasing to users. <br /> <br />San Juan/Dolores - Showed a River flow graph of the Animas River near Durango. May loth had most of the gaging <br />stations peaking in this basin. Lemon reservoir will now fill and so will Vallecito and Jackson Gulch Reservoirs. <br /> <br />US Geological Survey - John Gordon <br />The USGS Drought website can be found at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/co/nwis/rt <br />The USGS collaborates with the DWR <br />and CWCB for stream gages. The <br />drought web site shows locations of real <br />time stream gages with usually 30-years <br />of data for each gage. The graphs are <br />updated every four hours. <br />In 2002, the USGS added the Drought <br />Watch Page. This site provides real time <br />data on the drought. The drought watch <br />site shuts down in the winter because of <br />ice effects on the stream gages. If you go <br />to the site and click on triangles it will <br />pull up additional graphs. There have <br />been wild fluctuations in temperature so <br /> <br /> <br />o &:l <br />f <br /> <br />G 70 <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />9 60 <br />e <br /> <br />Expla.na.tion <br /> <br />50 <br /> <br />P130rwnti Ie ca tggories <br /> <br />n 40 <br /> <br />_ New rocord high flO'iN <br />_ >90 Perwntile <br />_ 76-00 P'13orc9ntil9 <br />_ 25-75 P'13orc9ntil9 <br />10-24 P'13orc9ntil9 <br />_ -=:10 Perwntile <br />_ New rocord ION fbrN <br /> <br />C <br />I 20 <br /> <br />" <br />s <br /> <br />Past Twelve Months <br /> <br />Compariron of ReoGnt Daily-AVGr.3.gG StrGamflO'lNSto Historical Stre-amflO'lNSfor Long-Term <br />Str92mgag-es Ope-i.:3.tocl bythg. U.S. Goobgica.ISurve-y in Colorxdo <br />