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<br />DRAFT <br /> <br />Run Gulch, French Creek, and Illinois Gulch. These eleven <br />drainages range in size from 0.73 to 11.1 square miles and <br />contribute a total of 35.0 square miles of drainage area to the <br />Blue River. In addition to these tributaries there are 2.5 square <br />miles of drainage area contributed to the Blue River within the MPA <br />by small, local drainages. <br /> <br />Discharges for the 2-, 5-, 10-, 25-, 50-, and 100-year events were <br />determined for the major tributaries utilizing the Army Corps of <br />Engineers HEC-1 model. Lehman Gulch, Sawmill Creek and Illinois <br />GulCh have previously had 10-, 50-, 100- and 500-year discharges <br />determined by FEMA. For regulatory purposes, the FEMA discharges <br />govern and as a minimum, must be adhered to. This study modelled <br />these basins for two purposes, first to provide not only peak <br />discharges, but entire hydrographs and to help calibrate the model <br />parameters for other basins. In other words, the parameters on <br />Illinois Gulch, Sawmill creek and Lehman Gulch were adjusted, <br />within a reasonable range, to produce discharges close to those <br />previously defined by FEMA. The calibrated parameters were then <br />considered in developing the watershed parameters for the other <br />basins. The main parameters adjusted in the calibration were those <br />controlling rainfall loss and flow resistance. <br /> <br />Methodolocrv <br /> <br />The HEC-1 computer model simulates the basin runoff response to <br />precipitation by modelling the basin as an interconnected system <br />of hydrologic and hydraulic components. Each system component <br />models a process in the rainfall-runoff behavior withn a subbasin. <br />A component may represent a surface runoff unit, a stream channel <br />unit, or a reservoir. Each component is mathematically represented <br />by a set of parameters which approximate the hydrologic <br />characteristics of the unit, and by a series of mathematical <br />relations which describe the physical processes governing the <br />hydrologic response to precipitation. The outcome of the modeling <br />process is the computation of stream flow hydrographs at locations <br />throughout the watershed. <br /> <br />The following processes in the hydrograph cycle are modeled in HEC- <br />1: <br /> <br />Rainfall <br />Interception/Infiltration/Runoff <br />OVerland Flow <br />Channel Flow <br /> <br />Rainfall was modeled by developing a hyetograph for the 24-hour <br />storm representing the return period of interest. Hyetographs were <br />developed using the NOAA Atlas II, Volume 3, Colorado, 1973. The <br />interception/infilration process was approximated by using SCS <br />(Soil Conservation Service) curve numbers. Although HEC-1 has <br /> <br />10 <br />