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10,000 <br />5000 <br />3i 0 <br />Z <br />OJ OV 0 <br />W W <br />Q N 15,000 <br />Wui <br />ir a 10,000 <br />?w <br />LL 5000 <br />Q <br />om 0 <br />Z <br />W Z 10,000 <br />5000 <br />-A - <br />- 1951-62 - <br />- ----1965-83 - <br />r? <br />=B = <br />90 Percentile = <br />- ---- 50 Percentile Period of record 1951-62 _ <br />- ------ 10 Percentile rj v? _ <br />_ \ - <br />_C 90 Percentile <br />- ---- 50 Percentile - <br />- -----10 Percentile Period of record 1965-83 - <br />Nhf./r1N,r\hV.yL <br />OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT <br />Figure 17. Daily streamflow at site 34 (Green River near Greendale, Utah) before and after the initial filling <br />of Flaming Gorge Reservoir. A, Mean daily streamflow. B, Daily streamflow for selected non-exceedance <br />probabilities before initial filling. C, Daily streamflow for selected non-exceedance probabilities after initial filling. <br />a 55-percent increase from the preintervention median load <br />(table 4). The increase in dissolved-solids load may have been <br />caused by several factors, including an increase in streamflow <br />between the two periods and an increase in dissolved-solids <br />loading upstream. At site 30, just upstream from Flaming <br />Gorge Reservoir, median annual dissolved-solids loading in- <br />creased by 118,000 tons at approximately the same time. <br />Dissolution of minerals from the reservoir bank material is <br />another potential source of increased dissolved-solids load. <br />The net dissolved-solids load added from dissolution of bank <br />material has been estimated to be 1.59 million tons during <br />1963-72, an annual average of 159,000 tons (Madison and <br />Waddell, 1973; Bolke and Waddell, 1975). Because most <br />of the increase was dissolved sulfate, the primary mineral <br />involved was believed to be gypsum. <br />The preintervention period was not evaluated for annual <br />monotonic trends because of the short period of record. No <br />statistically significant annual monotonic trends were indi- <br />cated during the postintervention period. <br />Middle Green Subregion <br />The middle Green subregion includes the Yampa River <br />basin and tributaries and all the tributaries to the Green River <br />between Greendale, Utah, and the confluence with the White <br />River. About 7,100 acre-ft/yr is exported from the Little <br />Snake River through the Cheyenne Diversion to supply water <br />to the city of Cheyenne, Wyo. (table 1). It is the only trans- <br />basin export from the Colorado River basin in Wyoming. <br />About 65,000 acres is irrigated upstream from Maybell, <br />Colo., and about 21,000 acres is irrigated along the Little <br />Snake River. Large deposits of coal are mined from <br />Cretaceous deposits in the Yampa River basin. Surface mines <br />are active along Trout Creek, Foidel Creek, Williams Fork, <br />Wilson Creek, and along the southern side of the Yampa <br />River between Steamboat Springs and Hayden, Colo. Much <br />of the basin contains outcrops of the coal-bearing Mesaverde <br />Group (Williams Fork and Iles Formations) and Mancos <br />Shale. Coal-fired powerplants near Hayden and Craig, Colo., <br />use about 13,000 acre-ft of water per year from the Yampa <br />River. <br />Steinaker Reservoir provides late-season irrigation <br />water for about 15,000 acres around Vernal, Utah. About <br />175,000 acres is irrigated in the Duchesne River basin. Since <br />1969, Starvation Reservoir on the Strawberry River has pro- <br />vided water for late-season irrigation near the town of <br />Duchesne, Utah. In addition to the Strawberry River inflow, <br />water from the Duchesne River is diverted into Starvation <br />Reservoir. Moon Lake stores water for late-season irriga- <br />tion of about 75,000 acres near the mouths of the Lake Fork <br />and Uinta Rivers. The Strawberry and Duchesne Tunnels <br />export water west to the Salt Lake City-Provo area in the <br />Great Basin. Water for diversion through the Strawberry <br />Tunnel has been supplied by Strawberry Reservoir since <br />1913. Some water from the upper Duchesne River basin is <br />diverted into Strawberry Reservoir, and minimal water is <br />40 Characteristics and Trends of Streamflow and Dissolved Solids in the Colorado River Basin