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. . . UESCRIPTIO~ OF BASl~ E. Hydrology ~ The Colorado Riv~r begins ....here peaks rise more than 14,000 feet o high in the northwest portion of Colorado's Rocky :-lountain ;<;at100al Park, o ]0 miles northwl'st of Denver. It r!'I{,ilndcrs solJt.h~st for 040 miles througb ::.....~ the Upper Basin to Lee Ferry. The Green Riv~'r. its major tributary, rises in ....estern ~yoming and discharges into the Colorado River in SQuth- t..'i1stern Utah--7JO river miles south of its origin and 220 miles above It:'e Ferry. The Green River drains 70 percent more area than the Colorado River above their junction but produces only about three-fourths as much water. The Gunnison and the San Juan are the other principal tributaries of the Upper Colorado River. The flo""s of the San Juan Rivl"r ar(' no.... controlled by tile :;avajo Dam, the Green RiVer by Fontenellc and Flaming Gorge Dams, and the Gunn- ison River by the Cur~canti Unil Dam~. Glen C..mvon n,lm is tlJt:~ only major darn on the main stem of the Colorado ahovl:' Lee Ferry, but it .....ill permit control of almost all flows leaving the l:pper Basin. The flow at various points in streams in the COlorilda River Basin for the 1941-72 period is ~iven in Tables 1 throu~h 17. The records uf flo..... dt'pict the characteristic wide fluctuations from month-to-ronth and the considerable variation from year-to-year. The storage reservoirs no..... level out oomt> of the fluctuations in the r.:!.3ches b('low the dam. The natur."Jl drainage area of thte' lower Colorado River belo.... Lee Ferry and above Imperial Dam is about 75.100 square miles. This section of the river is no.... larp:e.:ly controlled by" B('ries of stor."Jge ,lnd diver- sion dams startinp: with Hoover Dam and. endinp: at Imperial Dam. At the present time there is no significant stora~e on tile main rivt:>r or on the tributaries between Glen Canyon Dam and Lake ~lead. The intervening tributary inflo.... is erratic but amounts to almost enough to offset the t'vaporation from Lake Mead. Lake :1e."Jd provides most of the storage and regulation in the Lo....er Colorado River Rasin with the \oGter bein~ stored for irri~ation and munic- ip.al and industrial uses. ~eneration of el('ctrical po....er. and other he-ne- ffcial uses. Lake Hohave. the reservoir formed by Davis Dam. backs \oI(Her at high stages about 67 miles upstream to the tailrace of Hoover Po....erplant. Storage in Lake ~Iohave is used for some reregulation of releases from Hoover Oa;:!. for meeting treaty requirements ....ith ~lexico. and for devel- oping power head for the production of electrical eneq~y at Davis Power- plan t. 13