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<br />Feasibility Report for Improvement ofPaonia's Water Supply System
<br />Town of Paonia
<br />April 21, 2000
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<br />5.2 Review of Available Data
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<br />Representatives from GEl and WestWater toured the Town's system during the August 26 and
<br />27 kick-off meeting in 1999. During the meeting, the study team collected available records
<br />from the Town and held several subsequent meetings with the Town Manager, the Town's
<br />attorney, and the local water commissioner to further clarify available data, The Town has only
<br />recently started to keep detailed records of its raw water system, so the period of record is quite
<br />short, During the kick-off meeting, GEl collected hand written records of daily treatment plant
<br />inflows, which the Town began collecting in 1996, This information issurru.nanzed on Figures
<br />5,3 and 5.4, WestWater also collected diversion records from the State'Enguleer's Office (SEO)
<br />in Montrose and Denver,,:." . ,":~";"~:'f~'!:;i' .
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<br />In addition to data from the Town and the SEO, WestWater collected u.s:'G~oioiic.al Survey
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<br />(USGS) stream flow data and snowpack data, The streamflow data were ohi~M;:from the
<br />USGS gage site (09132500) located on the North Fork Gunnison River near Somerset, Colorado.
<br />Daily historical stream flow values were used to calculate monthly and yearly means, Gaging
<br />data for complete years were available from the Internet for the ;:ears 1934-97,
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<br />Snowpack data from two SNOTEL sites were al~o"obtained and analyzed to determine if there
<br />was a correlation between North Fork stream flow and the,snowpack data, The two SNOTEL
<br />data collection sites are located at Park ResefVoir and McClure P<).Ss. SNOTEL data provide the
<br />", . - ",'-',' ","r
<br />snow water equivalent (SWE) in inches for snowpack measur~d'during January through May,
<br />Park Reservoir snowpack data from the auto~ted site showed better correlations with 1984-
<br />1998 stream flow than the McClure Pass site data, c
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<br />5.3 Firm Yield Development
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<br />During disSU~.s,i6n.:.!: with the'To.~,Manager and the Water Commissioner, it became apparent
<br />that the Stat~,~~..~~e:~ion reco:~s)rior to 1987 were questionable, In addition, many of the
<br />monitoring 10c;HiQils ilr~not accessible in the winter and early spring months, As a result, there
<br />. was not enough.~ta 1:Q det~rminetli.e yield of most springs or to develop a monthly record of the
<br />changesjn-spring'flow(t:!iroughout the year, After reviewing and discussing the data
<br />deficiencies with Mr. Noel Hobbs, P,E., a recognized Colorado water rights expert, the study
<br />team agreed to pursue ail' alternate, less traditional approach for estimating the Town's firm
<br />yieJ(l,
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<br />Th.j_ chosen firm yield study approach was to correlate treatment plant inflow records with local
<br />stream t)ow and snowoack records, GEl used the data summarized in Figures 5,3 and 5.4 to
<br />deveioptotaiaveragemonthly inflow estimates_:o the treatment pJants. As part of GEl's data
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<br />m GEl Consultants, Inc,
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<br />5-2
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