PUB00027

• Year: 1990
• Title: Final Report Rio Grande Water Supply Study, Phase 1
• CWCB Section: Interstate & Federal
• Author: San Luis Valley Water Conservancy District
• Description: Reconnaissance level determination of the physically and legally available flow at 4 reservoir sites in the Rio Grande Basin upstream of Del Norte, Colorado
• Publications - Doc Type: Brochure

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Table 1-4
Potential South Fork Reservoir Characteristics

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Dam location (sec,twn,rng)... ,...
Storage capacity (af)... ..... ....
Top of Dam elevation (ft,msl)....
Dam crest length (ft). ...........
Dam height (ft above river)... ...
Surface area (acres).............
Reservoir length (miles).. .......
Drainage area (square miles). ,...
Est. Mean Runoff (1948-1985, af).

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SFl

19,39N,3E
150,000
8,735
1,950
320
1,010
4.5
129
87,300

SF2

25,39N,2E
150,000
8,820
1,510
360
960
3.8
119
80,700

SF3

9, 38N, 2E
100,000
9,280
1,350
460
850
3
59
40,700

When considering which of the three South Fork sites to consider in the water

availability analyses, an investigation was made of significant differences in flow

or water rights among the sites.

Since the gaged South Fork average annual flow (1955-1984) at South Fork

approximates 143,000 acre-feet and the reported drainage basin area is 216 square

miles, the average yield per square mile in the basin is approximately 660 acre-

feet. If one assumes this number is representative of drainage areas between SFl

and SF3, the tributary inflow between SFl and SF2 is estimated to approximate 6,600

acre-feet on an average annual basis and the tributary inflow between SF2 and SF3

to approximate 40,000 acre-feet on an average annual basis. These tributary inflows

are significant when compared to the flow of the South Fork Basin.

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An inspection of the tabulation of South Fork water rights indicates that there

are no direct flow or storage rights between SFl and SF3. Therefore) it appears

as though the three potential reservoir sites have virtually the same legal water

availabil ity.

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While the legal water availability at each of the South Fork candidate dam sites

is expected to be the same, the physical flow availability between the sites differs

significantly. Considering the physical flow advantage which the SFl site has, the

SFl site was selected for the water availability analyses.

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