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. . ,~ COMSAT GENERAL WATER MONITORING SYSTEM PERFORMS DURING STORMS (~') G ~ SUMMARY (,:> ~ Thirty-two sites of COMSAT General's 83 site satellite-linked water monitoring network in Colorado were put to a severe test during the heavy rains and local flooding in the Arkansas River Basin from July 27 through July 30. As Appendix A documents, recorded precipitation in the area was locally severe and widely distributed beginning the 27th and reached its height on Thursday, July 29th. Press reports of even higher levels of rainfall in remote areas appeared to be borne out by unexpected flows north of the Arkansas River. Flood stages were reached on many of the Arkansas River tributaries beginning in the Colorado Springs area and continuing below Pueblo. The main- stem Arkansas reached flood stage at Avondale and Nepesta and its downstream crests threatened to join high waters already building near LaJunta. Pueblo Resevoir was closed by the Division 2 Engineer about 9:30 a.m. Thursday the 29th. High flows continued in the Arkansas Valley through Friday, July 30. Appendix B shows examples of peak flows during this period. During the crucial period of high water and flood hazard in South- eastern Colorado, the COMSAT General network of 32 stations operated continuously, providing information to the offices--and on occasion the homes--of State, Federal, Regional and local officials. The system tracked events without interruption, events often occurring at odd hours and at unexpected locations. The system provided the most accurate information attainable using today's tech- nology. The only monitoring failure occured at Security on Fountain Creek, where extreme water velocities physically destroyed the water measurement equipment. (Even here, the fast rise reported before the station outage led to the correct assumption that a flash flood event was underway.)