FLOOD01223

• County: Statewide
• Community: State of Colorado
• Stream Name: South Platte
• Title: Upper Platte River Basin Study 1979-83
• Date: 1/1/1979
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Mitigation/Flood Warning/Watershed Restoration

COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD
Department of Natural Resources
823 State Centennial Building
1313 Sherman Street
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: [phone]

STATE OF COLORADO
-

M E M 0 RAN DUM

Richard D. lamm
Governor

J. William McDonald
Director

TO:

Interested Agencies

FROM:

J. William McDonald,

Director~

David W. Walker
Deputy Director

DATE:

April 26, 1983

SUBJECT: Draft Summary Report, Upper Platte River Study,
February 1983

Copies of the subject report were sent to the Board by the
Assistant Secretary, Land and Water Resources, U.S. Department of
the Interior with letter dated April 18, 1983, for review and
comment. I am sending you a copy for your review and comment if
you so desire.

The Upper Platte River study is the culmination of many
activities which began several years ago when the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service proposed a wildlife refuge along the Platte
River in south-central Nebraska. Review and discussion of this
proposal revealed a need for information on the basic hydrology
of this reach of the river, the impact of upstream activities and
adjacent groundwater development, and the interrelationships
between streamflow and habitat conditions.

Based on this apparent need for additional information, the
Secretary of the Interior, in a 1976 letter to the Governors of
Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska stated that the Department would
initiate technical studies on the Platte River to fill
information and technical gaps. Congressional approval for the
study was obtained in October, 1978, and funds were made
available to initiate the study in FY 1979 by the Bureau of
Reclamation, the Fish and Wildlife Sevice and the Geological
Survey.

The study addresses and analyzes the present and potential
water and related land resources problems, demands and conflicts
in the Upper Platte River Basin. Alternative uses of water, both
consumptive and non-consumptive and related land resources, were
considered and evaluated along with economic and environmental
impacts.

307
m/dft/upr

John R. Fetcher, Chairman - Herbert H. Vandemoer, Vice Chairman
CM. Furne<lux, Floyd l. Getz, Dale F. Grant, Robert A.Jackson, Richard W.Johnston, Jr., Frederick V. Kroeger, David W. Robbins