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<br />5000 <br /> <br /> <br />\ <br />\ .-. <br />.........------,." <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />, <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />complete. <br /> <br />RESULTS <br /> <br />Hydrology and Reservoir Elevation <br /> <br />Though, the past decade has been the wettest on record, runoff from the Colorado River was just <br />below average (89%) in 1999 (4,807,000 acre/ft) and well below (72%) average (3,856,000 <br />acre/ft) in 2000. Flows from the San Juan Rive- were similar but of a lesser magnitude (Figure <br />3). Runoff (1,671,000 acre/ft) in 1999 was slig tly higher (110%) than normal and was <br />substantially lower than normal in 2000. <br /> <br />Colorado River <br /> <br />- - - San Juan River <br /> <br />20000 <br /> <br />15000 <br /> <br />10000 <br /> <br />o <br /> <br />Oct 98 Apr99 Oct 99 AprOO <br /> <br />Jan 99 Jul 99 Jan 00 Jul 00 <br /> <br />Figure 3. Hydrographs showing Colorado and San Juan river flows (cfs) into <br />Lake Powell for October 1998 to September 2000. <br /> <br />Lake Powell's elevation attained its annual low (1,120.8 m) in late April 1999 and rose 5.3 m <br />(1,126.1 m) during spring runoff (Figure 4). Detectible river currents extended downstream to <br />RM 51 in April 1999, just upstream of the Piute Farms boat landing. By July, the reservoir <br />extended upstream beyond Clay Hills (RM 56). Lake Powell's rate of filling (8 cm/d) in June <br />and July 1999 allowed us to sample areas that were dry the previous trip. <br /> <br />The inflow ofthe Colorado River was confined to Narrow Canyon. At full pool, Lake Powell <br />inundates areas as far upstream as Imperial Rapids (RM-200). Narrow Canyon starts about 4 km <br />downstream of Imperial Rapids and extends downstream to RM-171 where the river broadens at <br />the confluence of the Dirty Devil River (RM-170). The reservoir was at nearly full (90%) pool <br />during the course of the study and backed up beyond RM-195 both years. <br /> <br />Backwater or slack water habitat was virtually nonexistent in the Colorado River inflow. <br /> <br />8 <br />