9521

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9521
• Author: Liebermann, T. D., D. K. Mueller, J. E. Kircher and A. F. Choquette.
• Title: Characteristics and Trends of Streamflow and Dissolved Solids in the Upper Colorado River Basin, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
• USFW Year: 1989.
• USFW - Doc Type: Denver.
• Copyright Material: NO

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_A Mean _
- ---- Median
_ Period of record 1947-83 -
400
300
200
100
?B =
1940-62 Ll = 5 -83
-
-C _
1940-65 _
_ ---- 1966-83
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
500
250
=D
1947-65
---- 1966-83
0
1000
750
500
250
OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT
Figure 20. Mean daily streamflow at selected sites in lower Green subregion of Green region. A, Site 53,
Price River at Woodside, Utah. B, Site 54, Green River at Green River, Utah. C, Site 55, Cottonwood Creek
near Orangeville, Utah. D, Site 57, San Rafael River near Green River, Utah.
Green River at Green River, Utah (site 54)
/ Site 54 (table 3, pl. 1) is the site farthest downstream
on the main stem of the Green River. The San Rafael River
is the only major tributary of the Green River downstream
from this site. Streamflow at site 54 is representative of the
cumulative hydrology of almost the entire Green region.
Mean daily streamflows during the period before construc-
tion of Flaming Gorge Dam (1929-62) and during the period
after completion of initial filling (1965-83) are shown in
figure 20B. The combined contributions from the Yampa and
White Rivers are greater than the flow at site 34 and pro-
duce a snowmelt-runoff peak during May and June. Although
storage in Flaming Gorge Reservoir decreases the snowmelt
runoff, the main effect of regulation has been to double the
streamflow during the low-flow season to about 3,500 ft3/s.
From 1965 to 1983, mean annual flow-weighted dissolved-
solids concentration averaged 463 mg/L (table 7). Calcium
and bicarbonate are the predominant ions during the high-
flow season. Sodium, calcium, and sulfate predominate dur-
ing the low-flow season (fig. 14). Since the reservoir was
filled, mean annual dissolved-solids concentration has in-
creased, primarily from increases in the dissolved-sulfate
concentration. The variability of monthly dissolved-solids
concentration and chemical composition has decreased.
The period of record was divided into a preintervention
period (1929-62) and a postintervention period (1965-83).
This division corresponds to the filling of Flaming Gorge
Reservoir and approximately corresponds with the filling of
Fontenelle Reservoir. Annual step-trend analyses indicated
a highly significant increase in annual dissolved-solids con-
centration of 29 mg/L, despite increased streamflow (table
4). This was a 7-percent change from the preintervention
median concentration. Trends indicated a marginally signifi-
cant increase in annual dissolved-solids load of 330,000 tons,
a 14-percent change from the preintervention median load
(table 4). No statistically significant annual monotonic trends
were identified for either the preintervention or postinter-
vention periods (table 8).
Cottonwood Creek near Orangeville, Utah (site 55)
Cottonwood Creek is one of the three main tributaries
that merge downstream from Castle Dale, Utah, to form the
Lower Green Subregion 47