WSP02105

• File Number: 8200.765
• Description: White River General
• State: CO
• Basin: Yampa/White
• Water Division: 6
• Date: 5/1/1986
• Author: Morrison-Knudsen
• Title: White River Geotechnical Study - Final Report - Volume I
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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no 112 3

Additional studies in the 1940's and 1950's culminated in a reconnaissance
report on the Yampa-White project in 1957. In 1959 local water interests
fonned the Yellow-Jacket Water Conservancy Oi strict (YJWCO), who now hol d
conditional water rights for levels of development conceived in the USBR plans
of 1957 a nd subsequent studi es completed in 1968. However, attempts through
1980 to obtain congressional projects authorization were unsuccessful.

In 19B1, renewed interest in water supplies for agricultural, municipal and
oil shale developments, was the basis for the State of Colorado to conduct the
Yellow Jacket Project Study; This study completed in 1982 presented yield
eval uati ons of proj ects util i zi ng the YJWCO water ri ghts and presented cost
estimates of alternative projects to deliver new supplies to potential users.
In the following year, the YJWCD and seven major private energy companies with
interest in regional oil shale development combined to direct the White River
Study. The White River Study examined potential multi-purpose water projects
that might employ the water rights of other entities in combination with YJWCO
water rights in an effort to reduce development costs and to mi nimi ze the
potentially damaging impacts of numerous, smaller, and scattered projects.

In the early 1980's several federal agencies conducted studies of water avail-
ability and potential water demands related to oil shale development in the
region. This included an investigation of yields of potential reservoirs in
the White River Basin.

The cornerstone of all the water resources projects fonnulated in the above
mentioned investigations is reservoir storage. It is not infrequent for fully
developed river basins in the Rocky Mountain region to require a total storage
capacity of two to three times the total annual average runoff. Thi s trans-
lates into a potential ultimate reservoir capacity development of 450,000 to
1,200,000 acre-feet within the White River Basin. The previous water planning
studi es were not di rected toward conducti ng subsurface geotechni cal i nvesti g-
ations at potenti al damsi tes. Gi ven the importance of reservoi r storage and
with the prominent dam and reservoir alternatives identified in the Yellow
Jacket Project and White River Study; the next logical step in the

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