Laserfiche WebLink
<br />3,3.3 Colorado River <br /> <br />Basin Descriotion- The Colorado River rises in Middle ParK, ns source being on the east <br />slope of Mount Richtofen, which has a height of 13,000 feet on the Contil1\al Divide, <br />Throughout most of ns course in Colorado, the river flows through canyons and narrow <br />valleys, Near Palisade, n enters Grand Valley, then flows to the Colorado-Utah State line, <br /> <br />Floodina Characteristics- Since records were started at Grand Junction in 1897, the <br />Colorado has not been subject to flood, as that term is generally understood, The rainfall <br />is too scal1\y to affect the river materially, and the high water that occurs annually due to <br />melting mountain snow in May and June is characterized by a gradual rise and fall, <br />depending on the amount of snow and the temperature, The tributary drainage basins <br />above Roaring ForK, likewise, are not subject to severe or flash floods, Cloudbursts <br />sometimes occur in this area, but the resulting floods do not have as high rates of runoff <br />as similar floods at lower altnudes, <br /> <br />3.3.4 Rio Grande <br /> <br />Basin Descriotion- The Rio Grande drains the high mountain parK known as the San Luis <br />Valley which has an altitude between 7.400 and 7,800 feet. The basin is bounded by the <br />almost continuous ring of mountains that separate n from the ArKansas River Basin on the <br />east and the Colorado River Basin on the north and west. From the mouth of South ForK, <br />Rio Grande to Del Norte, at the edge of the "alley proper, the Rio Grande has an average <br />slope of 17 feet per mile; from Del Norte to the Colorado-New Mexico State line, the slope <br />decreases from 17 to 7 feet per mile, <br /> <br />Flood Characteristics- The Rio Grande Basin, owing to ns sheltered posnion and its <br />relatively high altitude, is less subject to de~tructive floods than any other major basin in <br />Colorado, except that of the Colorado River, <br /> <br />3.4 References <br /> <br />Follansbee, Ro, and Sawyer, LR" USGS, Water Supply Paper 997 - Floods In Colorado, <br />1948, <br /> <br />USACE, Omaha District, Compendium of HYdrologic Information - A Supplement to Water <br />and Related Land Resources Management Study for Metropolitan Denver, Volume V, <br />Appendix H - Hydrology, 1980. <br /> <br />Colorado Flood <br />Hydrology Manual <br /> <br />3.4 <br /> <br />fF/iFT <br />