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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />001953 <br /> <br />the end of the period of record (1994) were much less than the withdrawals made in the late 1970's and <br /> <br />early 1980's. <br /> <br />Channel Processes <br /> <br />As stated previously, the Arkansas River and the surrounding alluvial aquifer can exchange water. <br /> <br />When the river is recharging the aquifer, the amount of recharge increases as theJeFI of the river <br />,-' "~ <br /> <br />increases. In the short term, increases in river level, or stage, are related to )h~~~'h;:~at~"s,~A!Q~. For <br /> <br />instance, flow typically increases when there are widespread rains. In t,e-l~;~~'I.J'lF~~~~)h:1evel <br />'\ v JF"j J","" ,I <br />of the river may change due increases in the elevation of the rivet€~),,'.\) <~~;~~~::':/ <br />",,,,,,~'-, (~/, i 'c-.-/r-,,_ \'~j <br />Watts and others (1992) documented a general incre,\~e'~fCt~~i~v,a~~n~y2fb:Vriver bed for the <br /> <br />Arkansas River at La Junta by evaluating the eIevation(~ th~~~~~t;~~~,~hiCh is determined <br /><'::,',""',:l \ (' ,(/7) ,,) .J <br />routinely as a part of maintaining streamflow re.c6~~sl:in"tb)s ,st1i~tao~inJilar method was used to eva1- <br />:< -<'/>',,,"'''::' ((/ ,~,,~<>/ <br />uate changes in river-bed elevation. Co" >1>' ~: ""'.' """'~, v' <br />,'>, \\ ;'~'M/ /', '''''' "", <br />The method used in this studY'lo!i1~~~r~f..,k~ot~~ the specific-stage method (Simon, 1994), <br />/"" ,,\:" "~~",,;' ,/ <, ^'o~"^,,,-,/' <br />tracks the river elevation for a s~~ill'i~~scha~e~tTse,ofthis method can return more frequent values <br />A " 'h. '\." 4' """ "" <br />// "~.".,\>- '~" ">"" ,;/ / <br />and also provides an anaIysi~~lf~d,pn l(l;R;l~s\section of the river rather than a single point in the cross <br />"'\ ~\\'\:. '~,> 1/';::;' . "'\'\> <br />section. Even thougp~he.)n~tH~ Jtldf"be ~~!,ed on a cross section rather than a point, it stilI describes <br /><"' <>---~> ;'::;,// j/>~~!-~"~-~--:>/ <br />the river bed onIY'1\ttHa(cfo,ss~ecti6n)nd cannot be applied to a river reach without additional <br />/ .', " '\,- - \, '''"' 'y / <br /><" <.,'.- -,' "'," ~"- '\--~ / <br />- ~,,' ~-" '1 ~/ <br />supporting/.iii:r/l;rm', 'illtio\l(', ,"' <br />'{ '">:,, <br />:,,// '// ,/,: i <br />The \'esult~Qfth.lii~Qa'i~sis are listed in table 4 and shown in figure 7. The results indicate that the <br />, <br />, -', ~ <br />elevation of {h.e.'fiyerhed has generally increased steadily throughout the study period. The changes in <br />, ' ," , <br />" / " <br /> <br />river bed elevations, unlike the changes in most of the factors previously discussed in this section, are <br /> <br />relatively steady.The total increase, from 1960 to 1996, is about 1.75 feet. Between 1996 and 1997 the <br /> <br />records indicated an increase of almost 1 foot which is a much greater increase than has occurred histor- <br /> <br />ically and may be a short-term phenomenon. <br /> <br />15 <br />