WSPC03959

• File Number: 8283.200
• Description: Colorado River Basin-Colorado River Computer Models-Colorado River Decision Support System-Ray
• State: CO
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 10/1/1995
• Title: South Platte Water Rights Management System-Water in the Balance-No 4-South Platte Water Rights Management System
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

any rnntVoling effcn.. SPWRMS model
OJlpul is only as good as me input data
pertaining to the pbysical characteristics
d the river, SPWR.t!,tS is designed to
help improve modeling accuracy with
time by giving system users the opponu-
niry to modify lag and loss ,,'aloes and
save their cb.aoges.

Water in the Balance

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lIydrographs
Hydrograpbs. depicting river and
ditch flow O\Ier time. p-omise to be me
of the most beneficial decisioo-making
tools available to SPWRMS. Graphically
depicted flow is far easier to interpret

HO;Jrly S~reamflow

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Using Hydrographs to Make More Water Available

This bydrograph depicts the fl()\ll.' of water in the South Plane River and me
tributary d Bear Creek frcm April 8 . April 12. 1995, Each line represents flow
at a different gauge on the river, 1be tv.'o curves show flow at the gauges named
PLADENCO and BCRSHECO, PLADENCO measures flow in the South Plane
at Downtown Denver. and BCRSHECO measures 80w 00 Bear Creek near the
town of Sheridan. about 8 miles upstream from the PlADENCO gauge.

The early spring of 1995 was very dry. On the 7th of April a very senior call
crotrolled the river .. a water right from 1866. Flows in the South Platte were
below 100 cis (cubic feet pet second). and in Bear Creek 1ess than 20 cis,

Snows on the weekend of the April 8th provided sane relief. and this
hydrograph shows lbat water started 10 arrive at these hIo'o gauges 00 the 9th. The
flow in Bear Creek: is small canpared to tha.t of the South Platte. but this aeek is
ooe of the many contributors 10 the total flow in the river.

Water adminislrators were able to use the informatioo 00 these hydrograpbs
to judge when mc:re water became available to usen. Administratcn in Denver
saw the flow at PlADENCU rise to 275 cis on the 9th and relAxed the call 00 the
river back to a 1911 warer righL This allowed the Burlingtoo Canal to begin
di><mng 225 cis 10 ""'ag' 00 Aprill 'J'4, \:l

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than the: long. typed lists of flow infor-
matioo previously availab~. Graphs
make jl easy, for example. let fol.1O\\' a
pulse of waler released frcxn .. reservoir
or initiated by rainfall as il mCtves d()\ll.'D
the river. This feature allows more pre.
cise decisions 10 maximize the use of
water for irrigatiOl1 and other purposes,

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Bibliography
Dzurik. Andrew A 1990. Watt'(
ResourCt's Plnnning. Savage. Maryland:
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Guariso. G.. and H, Werthner. 1989.
Environmental Decision Support Sys.
fems; Ellison Horwood Series in Com-
puters and their Applications; Ellison
Hav.'ood Limited. Cltichester.

Getches. David Ii 1984. Warn Law
in a Nutshell. Nutshell Series_ SL Paul.
Minnesota West Publishing Co_

Holtzman. Samuel, 1989./ntelligent
Decision Systems; Addisoo.Wesley Pub.
lishing Company. Inc.

League of Women \bters of CoI~
rado, 1988. Colorado Water. LWVC:
Dewe,.

Rice. Leonard. and Michael 0,
White, 1987, Enginuring Aspects of
Waler LAw, Ne'\l.' York.: John WLley &
Soos.

Speidel. David lL.l..oo C. Rued.isili
and Allen F. Agnew ed$, 1988. Perspec-
tives on Warer: Uses and Abuses. New
York: Oxford University Press,

Turban. Firaim. 1990, Decision
Support and Experl Sys~ms. Manage-
ment Support Systems; ~hrmillJtn Pub-
lishing Company, New Y<rl., NY,

V,S, Bureau of Reclamation. in
cooperatioo. v.itb the State of Colorado.
19i4. Colorado Stare Water Plan.
U.S.Depl of the lnteri(W'. Washing:ton.
D.C.