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<br />o <br />L"':l <br />CD <br /> <br />.... <br /> <br />c <br /> <br />r <br />'- <br /> <br />CHAPTER III <br /> <br />EXISTING WATER AND RELATED LAND RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT <br /> <br />General <br /> <br />Agriculture is the basin's main land and water using industry Sheep, cattle, <br />wool, and winter wheat are the main basin exports. Recreation is growing as <br />a basin industry and is expected to become more important in the future The <br />Yampa River basin is renowned for its mountain scenery. Most of the basin <br />provides some form of recreation. Of the 160,000 acres of developed or desig- <br />nated recreational lands in the basin, 146,500 acres are in Dinosaur National <br />Monument and are under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. The <br />29,300 acres devoted to wilderness use are located in the headwaters of the <br />basin in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness. This area includes the headwaters of <br />the Little Snake and Elk Rivers. These lands are administered to preserve <br />and enhance the wilderness resource. They provide opportunities for an un- <br />confined type of recreation and contain ecological, geological, and other fea- <br />tures of educational, scientific, and scenic values. <br /> <br />Figures 2 and 3 show the location of major features referred to in this chapter <br />and chapter V. There are no hydroelectric projects in the basin. <br /> <br />Water Supply <br /> <br />The major use of water in the Yampa basin is for irrigation. Most of the <br />irrigated lands are served by privately owned diversion or delivery systems <br />from nearby streams. The few storage facilities are either privately or <br />State-owned. <br /> <br />The larger communities in the basin have modern domestic water systems which <br />are apparently adequate for present needs. Municipal systems derive their <br />water from the nearby streams or the adjacent alluvial aquifers, except for <br />one small community which pumps from a bedrock aquifer. The only significant <br />industrial water use is for steam-electric generation. <br /> <br />, <br />~ <br />~ <br /> <br />The Yampa River contributes approximately one-eighth of the average streamflow <br />to the Colorado River as measured at Lees Ferry, Arizona. As a part of the <br />Colorado River System, flows on the Yampa are subject to requirements imposed <br />by the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact of 1948. This compact was created <br />to provide for an equitable apportionment among the States of Arizona, Colo- <br />rado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming of the waters of the Colorado River basin <br />which had been allocated to the Upper Basin by the Colorado River Compact of <br />1922. Article XIII of the 1948 Compact provides that the State of Colorado <br />will not cause the flow of the Yampa River at the Maybell gaging station to <br />decrease below five million acre feet for any period of 10 consecutive years. <br />Colorado has met this requirement very easily. The average annual flow at <br />Maybell during the period of record is 1,051,920 acre-feet, or more than <br />twice the amount required by the compact. <br /> <br />. <br />" <br />~ <br /> <br />., <br />f. <br /> <br />I <br />" <br /> <br />'.~ <br /> <br />9 <br /> <br />"I <br />