ISFAPPC00229

• Case Number: 03CW0037
• Stream Name: Ford Creek
• Watershed: Saguache Creek
• Water Division: 3
• Water District: 26
• County: Saguache
• Instream Flow App - Doc Type: Supplemental Data

Hydrologic Data

After receiving the cooperating agency's biologic recommendation, the CWCB staff conducted
an evaluation of the stream hydrology to determine if water was physically available for an
instream flow appropriation. The hydro graph below was derived from data collected by the
USGS stream gage for Saguache Creek near Saguache, CO (ID #08227000), which has a
drainage area of 595 square miles (See Gage Summary in Appendix C) and the diversion records
for the Piquet Ditches 9-12 (see Diversion Records in Appendix D). The total drainage area of
the Ford Creek Drainage upstream of Baxter Creek is approximately 14.2 square miles. The
period of record for this gage was 1910 to 2000, the period of record used by staff in their
analysis was 1910 - 2000, or 83 years of record. Table 2 below displays the estimated flow of
Ford Creek upstream of Baxter Creek.

Table 2: Ford Creek Estimated Flow at Baxter Creek.
Exceedences Janua Februa March A ril Ma June Jul Au us! s. ember October November December
1% 0.84 0.98 2.06 7.04 12.79 13.27 7.26 5.55 4.06 2.61 1.72 1.05
5% 0.72 0.84 1.50 3.82 9.62 9.84 5.14 4.01 2.82 1.93 1.31 0.68
10% 0.72 0.76 1.31 2.70 7.61 8.26 4.22 3.15 2.05 1.65 1.19 0.84
20% 0.84 0.72 1.07 1.96 5.20 6.13 3.27 2.41 1.53 1.34 1.07 0.74
50% 0,55 0.60 0.84 1.24 2.86 3.37 1.89 1.46 1.03 0.93 0.81 0.60
80% 0,43 0.53 0.67 0.93 1.60 1.65 0.96 0.91 0.72 0.69 0.60 0.48
90% 0.41 0.45 0,60 0.79 1.24 1.12 0.72 0.69 0.57 0,60 O.SO 0.38
95% 0.33 0.38 0.53 0,69 0.98 0.69 0,56 0.57 0.43 0.53 0,45 0.36
99% 0,26 0.31 0.36 0,50 0.67 0.38 0,41 0.41 0.33 0.38 0,33 0.29

Ford Creek Estimated Stream Flow

2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
J!! 1
to)
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
o

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

58'

OCT

NOV

DEe

Month

Table 2 shows that the summer/winter recommendation of 0.7 cfs is only available March 1
through July 31. The summer/winter flow was further reduced to 0.3 cfs (August 1 st - October
31 st) and to 0.5 cfs (November 1 st - to February 29th), based on limited water availability.

Precipitation Data
Staff reviewed local precipitation data sets from 2 different sites located around the Ford Creek
Drainage (see Precipitation Data in Appendix C). These sites include Saguache and Center.
Table 3 shows the water year and the percent of average precipitation recorded at each site.

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