SPDSS_Task82_ReviewPublishedReports_WaterBudgets

• Title: SPDSS Task 82 - Review Published Reports on Water Budgets
• Description: This memorandum summarizes the results of Task 82 of the Consumptive Use and Water Budget portion of the South Platte Decision Support System ‎(SPDSS)‎ effort.
• Decision Support - Doc Type: Task Memorandum
• Date: 4/7/2005
• DSS Category: Water Budget
• DSS: South Platte
• Basin: South Platte
• Contract/PO #: C153953
• Grant Type: Non-Reimbursable
• Bill Number: SB01-157, HB02-1152, SB03-110, HB04-1221, SB05-084, HB06-1313, SB07-122
• Prepared By: Leonard Rice Engineering

• Surface Water Outflows
• Exports
• Ground Water Outflows
Changes in Storage include:
• Surface Water Changes in Storage
• Ground Water Changes in Storage
Approach
A literature search for available water budget estimates for the South Platte River, North Platte
River, and Laramie River basins was carried out using resources from the following entities:
• Leonard Rice Engineers,
• Colorado Water Conservation Board,
• Division of Water Resources Water Division 1 and Water Division 6 offices,
• Numerous public and academic libraries throughout the state of Colorado (via Prospector),
• Colorado Water Resources Research Institute (CWRRI),
• United States Geological Survey (USGS),
• Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, and
• World Wide Web.
Eight documents were identified that provide various water budget components for the basins.
The references were reviewed to determine the study areas, study periods, data used, approaches
taken, and assumptions made to support the water budget components presented. There were no
complete water budget studies identified for the entire South Platte River, North Platte River, or
Laramie River basins within the state of Colorado. Only one study identified (Hurr et al.)
developed a complete inflow-outflow balance, albeit for the portion of the South Platte River
alluvial aquifer between Henderson and Julesburg.
Results and Comparison
As noted above, the studies of the three basins in the SPDSS study area estimated various entries
for different water budget components. Table 1 summarizes the water budget components
extracted from the studies for the South Platte River basin. Totals of inflows, outflows, and
changes in storage are only provided for the study that developed a complete inflow-outflow
balance. Table 2 summarizes the water budget components extracted from the studies for the
North Platte River and Laramie River basins.
A summary of the data for each of the water budget components is included in the right-most
column of Table 1. No summary of the data is included in Table 2 due to the limited data
identified for the North Platte River and Laramie River basins within the state of Colorado. The
available water budget components and their applicability for SPDSS Task 83 Prepare Initial
Water Budgets are discussed below.
Task82 final.doc 3 of 7 Apri17, 2005