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<br />CHAPTER 1 <br />INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />1,1 PURPOSE, The purpose of the Colorado Flood Hydrology Manual (CFHM) is to present guidance <br />to assist in conducting flood hydrology studies on streams and rivers within the state of Colorado, The <br />manual's intent is to: 1) provide guidance on methods, procedures, and policies, 2) establish <br />consistency in the selection, application, and results of various hydrologic methods, :3) review policy <br />and decision elements, and 4) consolidate references, criteria, and policies into one document <br /> <br />Due to the critical role of hydrology in all forms of water resource projects such as flood plain <br />delineation, design of hydraulic structures, flood warning systems, etc" it is essential that the most <br />appropriate and accurate means possible be used to define the hydrology at every project <br /> <br />The manual is designed to address unique problems encountered in developing flood hydrology within <br />Colorado basins and watersheds including the physical complexities of frontal system movements, <br />orographic effects, and urbanization impacts. The manual addresses the applicability of various <br />methods in rainfall and snowmelt runoff analyses, Recent developments in establishing new methods <br />for analyzing front range thunderstorms, paleoflood hydrology, and risk and uncertainty analysis are <br />incorporated into the manual. Descriptions of the background theory, limitations, and applications of <br />various hydrologic methods for gaged and ungaged streams are included in the manual. <br /> <br />1,2 USERS, Anticipated users of this manual include local communities which do not currently have <br />their own criteria manuals, 11 is not the intent to use this manual to superceed any existing criteria of <br />local communities, A partial list of local communities which currently have criteria manuals include: <br /> <br />Urban Drainage gnd Flood Control District <br />Boulder County <br />City of Colorado Springs <br />City of Grand Junction <br />City of Ft Collins <br />Larimer County <br />etc, <br /> <br />1.3 SCOPE, It is the intent of the manual to providE! general guidance for acceptable methodologies <br />to be used in flood hydrology studies, It is not the intent of the manual to develop a strict policy on <br />acceptance of one particular methodology over another. Much E!ffort, though, has been made to <br />illuminate the assumptions, limitations, strengths, and weaknesses of all methods, It is the <br /> <br />Colorado Flood <br />Hydrology Manual 1 ,'I <br /> <br />a=w=r <br />