7905

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7905
• Author: U.S. Department of the Interior.
• Title: Quality of Water, Colorado River Basin.
• USFW Year: 1995.
• USFW - Doc Type: Progress Report No. 17,
• Copyright Material: NO

DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

Acre-foot is the quantity of water required
to cover 1 acre to a depth of 1 foot and is
equivalent to 43,560 cubic feet-about
326,000 gallons or 1,233 cubic meters.

Anoxic refers to the lack of oxygen.

Cablegation is irrigation from a piped
ditch where the rate of discharge to the
furrow is controlled by a cable attached to
a plug in the pipe.

Chemocline is a level in a lake or reservoir
where water quality shifts rapidly with
elevation from one zone of water quality to
another.

Concentration is the flow-weighted
average concentration of total dissolved
solids (salt) measured in milligrams per
liter or tons per acre-foot.

Conductivity. See specific conductance.

Consumptive use is the total amount of
water taken up by vegetation for trans-
piration and evaporation.

Cubic feet per second (ft3/s or cfs) is the
rate of discharge representing a volume of
1 cubic foot passing a given point during
1 second and is equivalent to approximately
7.48 gallons per second or 448.8 gallons per
minute.

Depletion in the context of this report is
the total man-caused loss of water from the
river system due to consumptive uses,
evaporation, evapotranspiration, and
transmountain diversion.

Discharge is the volume of water plus
suspended sediment that passes a given
point within a given period of time.

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Dissolution is the process of dissolving.

Dissolved solids. See total dissolved solids.

Diversion is the total amount of water
diverted. Diverted water mayor may not
return to the river.

Eutrophication results from the
enrichment of a body of water with
nutrients which stimulate the growth of
algae. Eutrophic lakes and reservoirs
overproduce algae, causing loss of dissolved
oxygen and taste, odor, and esthetic
problems. (See trophic state.)

Gauging station is a particular site on a
stream, canal, lake, or reservoir where
systematic observations of hydrologic data
are obtained.

Historical flow is the flow actually
experienced at the gauging station or point
of measurement. It is the total runoff of a
drainage area above the point of measure-
ment as influenced by nature and the
activities of man. It may be recorded or
estimated.

Lee Ferry is a reference point marking
division between the Upper and Lower
Colorado River Basins. The point is located
in the mainstem of the Colorado River
1 mile below the mouth of the Paria River
in Arizona.

Lees Ferry is the location of Colorado
River ferry crossings (1873 to 1928) and site
of the U.S. Geological Survey stream gauge
above the Paria River confluence.

Natural flow. See definition of virgin flow.

Oxic refers to the presence of oxygen.