WSP03192

• File Number: 8273.400
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control - Federal Agency Reports - BLM
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 6/1/1984
• Title: 1980-82 Salinity Status Report - Results of Bureau of Land Management Studies on Public Lands in the Upper Colorado River Basin
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

estimated average annual discharges of salts from a series of. small, steep,
badland drainages in Mancos shale near Huntington, Utah (0.23 t/ha/yr)--
assuming 3% salt content in sediment (Jackson and Ju1ander, 1982). The mean
W salt to sediment ratio in runoff at Badger Wash was 3.8%. This compares to
W the 3-4% TDS to TS ratios measured at Wattis Branch and Soldier Creek.
U1
~ Table 4. Summary of TDS discharge from three watersheds at Badger Wash.

Variable

Area (acres)
(ha)
Mean Slope (percent)
Measured Runoff (ac-ft/yr)
(m;;!/yr)
Measured Average TDS (mg/1)
Measured Salt Yield
( tons/mi 2 /yr)
( tons/acre/yr)
(t/ha/yr)
1966-1973 Runoff lac-ft/yr)
(m;;!/yr)
Estimated Salt Yield, 1966-1973
( tons/mi 2/yr)
( tons/acre/yr)
( t/ha/yr)
Total average annual salt yield:

Mean salt/sediment ratio, TDS/TS

Conclusions

Prairie Dog

14
5.7
25.8
0.05
62
1,380,

3.8
0.006
0.014
.47
579

40
0.063
0.144
31 tons/mi2/yr
0.05 tons/acre/yr
0.1 t/ha/yr 0.11
(4 samples): 3.8%

Watershed
Mi dd1 e

West Twl n

1.6
1973
807

19
0.030
0.068
3.1
3,822

107
43
15.6
1.7
2,096
547

8.8
0.014
0.032
2.9
3,576

15
0.023
0.052

37
0.058
0.132

Data fr.om Badger Wash, while inconclusive due to the small number of samples,
helps substantiate the rough estimates of salt yield and salt to sediment
ratios developed in the Price River Basin for small, moderately steep,
ephemeral washes on Mancos shale. Roughly 0.11 t/ha/yr (0.05 tons/acre/yr) of
salt were measured in the discharge of three small basins at Badger Wash,
This was based on extrapolating runoff and water quality data collected during
1977-82 to runoff and sediment yield co11e~ted from 1966-73 during the Badger
Wash E~osion Study. The mean salt to sediment ratio (4 samples) was 3.8
percent.

We made no attempt to extrapolate conclusions of the original Badger Wash
Erosion and Grazing Study with regard to sediment yield to quantify the
effects of livestock grazing on salinity yields. Neither the research design
nor the quantity and precision of data collected warranted such an extrapo-
lation. However, surface runoff data from. the Price River Basin, Badger Wash
and other studies (e.g.. Hawkins, et al., 1977; Jackson and Ju1ander, 1982;

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