WSP04572

• File Number: 8271.300
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program - General Information and Publications-Reports
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 1/1/1981
• Author: R Evans W Walker
• Title: Optimizing Salinity Control Strategies for the Upper Colorado River Basin -- Part 1 of 2 - Title page - 186 -- Abstract - Bibliography
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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precipitation events are discussed and analyzed by Hansen
et al. (1977). The extreme cyclic nature of the stream
flows typical to the Basin have necessitated large amounts
of surface storage facilities.
Forty-two percent of the area of the Basin receives
less than 300 rom of precipitation per year. These internal
deserts contribute very little water to the Colorado River
Basin. Figure 6 is an isohyetal map of the average annual
precipitation in the Upper Colorado River Basin indicating
that approximately 10 percent of the land area contributes
about 85 percent of the total water supply.
Streamflow
The average annual recorded flow of the Upper Colorado
River Basin at Lee's Ferry has ranged from a low of
690,500 ha-m in 1934 to a high of 2,960,700 ha-m in 1917.
Figure 7 presents a map showing the relative stream volumes
and their respective salt load as a percentage of the
average annual Lee's Ferry conditions.
The 1922 Colorado River Compact divided water rights
between the Upper and Lower Basin based on an optimistic
average annual virgin flow of 1.997 x 106 ha-m/yr. However,
a part of the Lake Powell Research Project (Stockton and
Jacoby, 1976) estimated the "long-term annual virgin runoff"
of the Colorado River at Lee's Ferry to be 1,664,550 ha-m/yr
based on the analysis of tree-ring data. From the analysis
of existing hydrologic data, Tipton and Kalmback, Inc.
(1965) estimated the annual virgin flow at Lee's Ferry at