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<br />002~34 <br /> <br />flows also will be compared with estimated water requirements for the crops <br />and acreages. under irrigation; possibly, some of the water being diverted is <br />not ut i I i zed.. <br /> <br />Legal compacts within the Colorado River system will be reviewed to de- <br />termine if specific stipulations have been made regarding, sal inity composition <br />and loadings of the Yampa River basin. Compl iance with, or violation of, <br />State or Federa I stream-qua 1 i ty standards needs to be eva I uated--both under <br />present conditions, and as a result of possible increases in water ,utilization <br />resulting f....om energy-resource extraction and use. <br /> <br />Implementation of water-development projects depends to, a large extent <br />upon availabil ity of water rights and compliance with existing basin-compact <br />requirements. Other relevant factors include possible des ignationof the low- <br />er Yampa River in Dinosaur National Monument as a Wild and Scenic River reach <br />(U.S, Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, oral commun" 1975). <br /> <br />Development of ground-water resources is' an,ticipated, by uti 1 izing water <br />principally fromsha.llow alluvial aquifers. Pumpage from wells recharged by <br />adjacent streams is subject to water-rights': restrictions appl icable to conJunc- ' <br />t ive surface- and g:round-water use. <br /> <br />Surface Water <br /> <br />Several proposed developmental programs for the Yampa River basin primar- <br />i ly involve surface water, N,umerous reservoirs in the basin have been propos- <br />ed (U.S, Bureau of Land Management and U,S, Geological Survey, written commun., <br />1976), totaling nea,rly 1.9 million acre-feet (2,250 million m3) of'storage, <br />This is about 20 percent greater than the mean annual flow of the YampaRiver <br />mainstem entering the Green River near the Utah State line. Projected princi- <br />pal uses of the impounded waters. would be for irrigation and power, <br /> <br />On ly one maJor' reservoi r (Steamboat Lake on Wi 11 ow Creek, a t ri butary of <br />the: Elk River riortlr of Steamboa.t, Springs, 18,600 acre-ft or 23xl06 m3) current- <br />lyexists in the basoin; numerous smaller reservoirs provide water mOstly for <br />livestock and irrigation p,urposes., Elkhead Reservo.ir, recently constructed on <br />EJkhead Creek northeast of Craig, was built for recreational use and for'tem- <br />porary storage of cool ing water' for the Cra.ig power plan.t, unde.r construction. <br />EvaJua'tion' of' various res,ervoir plans' in view of projected energy-related <br />needs wi 11 const,itu;te an important canponent of the basin assessment, <br /> <br />Streamflow modeling will be used. to determine long-term. water availabil- <br />ity. DaJly stream-discharge data have been collected at approximate Iy 75 <br />locations within theYampa River basin; the period of record at about 35 of <br />tlleg;e site,s is; sufficient (greater than or equal to 10 yea,rs data) for f....e- <br />quency-duration st:atJstical analys is. The data, which have been collected <br />under various programs, cover varying time per'iods. To help set up a uniform <br />data base, a dail y fl ow- rout i ng model is needed, <br /> <br />A dai ly unit-response rout.ing technique described by Sauer (1973) is a <br />potenti a I method for extend ing st'reamflow records, The uni t- response techn i que <br />as described, by Sa,uer is a simplified I inear method of flow routing in open <br />cllanne,ls, The basic. theory of this method is that a flow input of unit rate <br /> <br />16 <br />