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The recommended types of synthetic unit hydrographs for use in estimating inflow design <br />floods in Colorado are shown in Table 1. The Clark unit hydrograph is recommended for urban <br />watersheds and smaller (less than 50-square mile) predominantly agricultural watersheds. <br />DimE~nsionless unit hydrographs and S-graphs are recommended for Rocky Mountain, Great <br />Plains and Colorado Plateau watersheds. The Clark unit hydrograph can be an acceptable <br />alternative for small (less than 10-square mile) watersheds of those types and when verification <br />studies indicate that the Clark unit hydrograph yields more reasonable results than the <br />dimensionless or S-graphs. <br />TabVe 1 <br />Selection of synthetic unit hydm~ographs for use <br />in estimating inflow design €loods in Colorado <br />VA/atershed Dimensionless Unit Hydr~graph ~lark Unit <br />Type or S-graph I~ydrograph <br />RocN,y Mountain Preferred Acceptable Alternative <br />Gre~~t Plains Preferred Acceptable Alternative <br />Colorado Plateau Preferred Acceptable Alternative <br />Agric~ultural Not Recommended except for agricultural Preferred <br />watersheds larger than 50 square miles <br />Urb~~n Not Recommended Preferred <br />CVark Unit Hvdro4raah Parameter Estimation <br />The ~~lark unit hydrograph is a three parameter method; time of concentration (T~), storage <br />coefficient (R), and the time-area relation. Equations for estimating T~ and R were estimated <br />from an analysis of all relevant watershed data (Sabol, 1987 and 1993), and synthetic time-area <br />relations are available. <br />Time of Concentration: Time of concentration is the travel time, during the corresponding <br />peric~d of most intense rainfall excess, for a floodwave to travel from the hydraulically most <br />distant point in the watershed to the point of interest (concentration point). Three time of <br />cona~ntration (T~) equations are recommended depending on the type of watershed: <br />Rocky Mountain, Great Plains and Colorado Plateau <br />T~ =2.4A~L2sLcs S-.z <br />19 March 2007 7 <br />