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VOLUME XVIX, ISSUE 1 <br />March 2005 <br />Erin <br />ATER RESOURCES <br />DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES <br />Engineer, Division 6 <br />Pot Creek, an unusual stream <br />drainage for the state of Colorado, <br />arises in the Uinta Mountains of <br />Utah and flows in an easterly <br />direction into Colorado before <br />flowing into the Green River. <br />In 1954, a Memorandum of Under- <br />standing (MOU) was signed by the <br />states of Utah and Colorado to <br />allow for the equitable distribution <br />of the water of the Pot Creek <br />drainage according to priority <br />without regard to the state line. <br />Fifty years later, this MOU is <br />being reevaluated by the states as <br />to its adequacy in the changing <br />times and needs for water. The <br />two states have been working <br />cooperatively to revise and update <br />the 1954 MOU. This article, <br />however, is not to present the work <br />being done on the revised MOU. <br />In October 1957, the U.S. Geologi- <br />cal Survey (USGS) began operation <br />of a gaging station on Pot Creek <br />above Matt Warner Reservoir, <br />which is presently owned and <br />operated by the Utah Division of <br />Wildlife Resources. The USGS <br />ceased its operation of this gage in <br />September 1993. Since this time, <br />the Utah Division of Water Rights <br />has operated and maintained this <br />station for administrative purposes <br />under the Pot Creek MOU. <br />A rating table for this gage is very <br />difficult to keep accurate due to an <br />ever - changing channel bed. To <br />provide more accurate readings, it <br />was decided several <br />years ago that a <br />control structure <br />needed to be installed. <br />Finally, in October <br />2004 a prefabricated <br />ramp flume was <br />installed upstream of <br />the gaging station <br />with plans to relocate <br />the station to the <br />location of the flume <br />in the near future. <br />The ramp flume was <br />designed by the State <br />of Utah Division of <br />N <br />r) <br />rj <br />Water Rights using the program <br />WinFlume and was prefabri- <br />cated by the Pot Creek water <br />commissioner, Mike "Stoney" <br />McCarrell. Because there is <br />little flow into Pot Creek below <br />Matt Warner Reservoir, the <br />quantity of inflow to the reser- <br />voir is critical for water admini- <br />stration within the entire Pot <br />Creek drainage. <br />(Continued on page 2) <br />Inside this issue: <br />A book review by Steve 2 <br />Witte <br />Div. 1 Augmentation 3 <br />Plan Strategies <br />CFWE Water Educa- 6 <br />tors' Conference <br />Human Resources 7 <br />Calendar of Events <br />(back cover) <br />