Drought & Water Management

• Title: What the Current Drought Means for the Future of Water Management in Colorado
• Date: 1/1/2003
• Description: 2002 Drought Impact Report
• Basin: Statewide
• Drought Mitigation - Doc Type: Reports

The table is followed by two figures -- Figure II.4 and Figure II.5 -- that depict statewide
summaries of the condition of reservoir storage by basin. In the first figure, the color
coded bars represent, for each month of the 2002 water year, the amount of actual storage
above or
Table 11.1. Table of Percent Storage Capacity Filled in July 2002, in July
2001, and Average July Capacity
below average in each basin. The last column is the cumulative total for the state. The
second figure shows the basins on a map of the state and storage capacity as a percentage
of full utilization by basin for October 1, 2002. By October the amount of water in
storage was 48% of average, 56% of what it had been a year earlier when the figure was
86% of average. This amounts to a net withdrawal of approximately 1.2 million acre -feet
of water from storage, equivalent to about 20% of Colorado's total usable reservoir
capacity, in one year.
10
Rserv,
A
July
©02
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1ulyQO1
'
MIR
�ve�e
TE
IV
Blue Mesa
Gunnison
45
80
86
Cheesman
South Platte
29
97
88
Green
Upper
40
98
99
Mountain
Colorado
Stagecoach
Yampa
77
100
89
Vallecito
San Juan
15
82
77
Granby
Upper
28
73
85
Colorado
McPhee
Dolores
43
75
82
Pueblo
Arkansas
35
57
63
Elevenmile
South Platte
102
104
101
below average in each basin. The last column is the cumulative total for the state. The
second figure shows the basins on a map of the state and storage capacity as a percentage
of full utilization by basin for October 1, 2002. By October the amount of water in
storage was 48% of average, 56% of what it had been a year earlier when the figure was
86% of average. This amounts to a net withdrawal of approximately 1.2 million acre -feet
of water from storage, equivalent to about 20% of Colorado's total usable reservoir
capacity, in one year.
10