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<br />3,3,3 Colorado River <br /> <br />Basin Descriotion- The Colorado River rises in Middle Park, its source being on the east <br />slope of Mount Richtofen, which has a height of 13,000 feet on the Contintal Divide, <br />Throughout most of its course in Colorado, the river flows through canyons and narrow <br />valleys. Near Palisacle, it 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 beEtn subject to flood, as that term is generally understood. The rainfall <br />is too scanty to affec'lthe 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 Ic,wer altitudes. <br /> <br />3.3.4 Rio Grande <br /> <br />Basin Descriotion- TI1e 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 it from the Arkansas River Basin on the <br />east and the Colorad~ River Basin on the north and wesl From the mouth of South Fork. <br />Rio Grande to Del Nc,rte, at the edge of the valley proper, the Rio Grande has an average <br />slope of 17 feet per mile; from Del Norte to the CoIorado-New Mexico State line, the slope <br />decreases from 17 te, 7 feet per mile. <br /> <br />Flood Characteristics- The Rio Grande Basin, owing t:i its sheltered position and its <br />relatively high altitudl3, is less subject to destructive floods than any other major basin in <br />Colorado, except that of the Colorado River. <br /> <br />3.4 References <br /> <br />Follansbee, R., and Sawyer, L.R.. USGS. Water Supply Paper 997 - Floods in Colorado. <br />1948. <br /> <br />USACE, Omaha District. Compendium of Hydrologic Information - A Supplement 10 Water <br />and Related Land Flesources Management Study for Metropolitan Denver, Volume V, <br />Appendix H - Hydrology, 1980. <br /> <br />Colorado Flood <br />Hydrology Ma~tual <br /> <br />3.4 <br /> <br />fFrdFT <br />