Laserfiche WebLink
<br />V. RESERVOIR REGULATION <br />16. NORTH PLATTE RIVER RmERVOIR SYSTEM <br /> <br />a. The North Platte River basin contains many storage <br />and diversion projects. The principal storage reservoirs on <br />the North Platte River are Seminoe, Pathfinder, Alcova, Glendo, <br />and Lake McConaughy. These and other projects are listed in <br />table 12. The Bureau of Reclamation planned and constructed <br />Seminoe, Pathfinder, Alcova, and Glendo Dams. Lake McConaughy, <br />formed by Kingsley Dam, was built and is operated by the Central <br />Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District. Glendo Reservoir <br />is the only storage project in the North Platte River basin that <br />contains authorized flood-control space. It is, therefore, the <br />only reservoir in Which the Corps of Engineers participates in <br />regulation of flood-control storage and releases. <br /> <br />b. The Bureau of Reclamation reservoirs on the North <br />Platte River in Wyoming are grouped for system storage comJ:6ri- <br />sons. These reservoirs are Seminoe, Kortes, Pathfinder, Alcova, <br />Grey Reef, Glendo, and Guernsey. The storage on 1 January 1973 <br />was 1,925,000 acre-feet. This was 194,000 acre-feet less storage <br />than a year earlier, Which was the highest of record for the <br />date. The system storage capacity is 3,058,000 acre,-feet. Plate <br />26 presents a graph of storage over the past 10 years. Minimum <br />storage in the North Platte River reservoir system usually occurs <br />in late September at the termination of the irrigation season. <br /> <br />17. WATER SUPPLY SOURcm <br /> <br />a. More than three-fourths of the North Platte River flow <br />volume normally comes from snowmelt.. The high elevation snow <br />runoff usually reaches a peak discharge in June. This is <br />generally the period of peak inflow into the upstream reservoirs, <br />Seminoe and Pathfinder. The snowmelt runoff from the lower <br />elevations usually reaches a peak in May. This May runoff <br />provides the peak inflow into Glendo Reservoir. Snow runoff <br />is often augmented by rainfall runoff. Although precipitation <br />at the lower elevations averages only about 12 inches per year, <br />severe rainstorms are cOl1llllOn in the spring months during the <br />snowmelt period. <br /> <br />b. Upper reservoir system. The reservoirs referred to as <br />'the "upper system" include Seminoe, Kartes, Pathfinder, Alcova, <br />and Gray Reef. Seminoe and Pathfinder are the principal irriga- <br />tion storage projects. The upper reservoirs were at near record <br /> <br />30 <br />