WSP05120

• File Number: 8200.760
• Description: Yampa River General
• State: CO
• Basin: Yampa/White
• Water Division: 6
• Date: 1/1/1983
• Author: USGS
• Title: Reservoir Development Impacts on Surface-Water Quantity and Quality in the Yampa River Basin - Colorado and Wyoming - 1983
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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001894

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Surface-Water Diversions and Consumptive Uses

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Water rights and surface-water diversions were inventoried under the auspices
of the State Engineer's Offices of Colorado (Knudsen and Danielson, 1977) and
Wyoming. That inventory and a related analysis (Gray and others, 1977; Udis and
others, 1977) have indicated that more than 90 percent of water withdrawals and
96 percent of consumptive use of water in northwestern Colorado in 1976 could be
attributed to agriculture--primarily for irrigation.

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Numerous smal,l irrigation diversions within the basin principally are used to
deliver water to hay and wheat fields and to pastureland (Colorado Water Conserva-
tion Board and U.s. Department of Agriculture, 1969). The actual amounts of water
diverted through these small diversions, although recorded by the State Engineer's
Office during intermittent onsite visitations, are not accurately known. However,
data for the Gibraltar Canal, a large diversion canal located on the Yampa River
near Hayden, Colo. (fig. 1), were available and were included in.the basinwide-
reservoir analyses.

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Reservoir Geometry

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Two proposed transmountai.n diversion projects that are in,tended to,divert
water from the Yampa River basin to another area were included in the reservoir
analyses (fig. 1). These proposed transmountain diversions are an expansion of the
existing Hog Park project that diverts water from tributaries of the Little Snake
River to the Cheyenne, Wyo., metropolitan area (Banner & Associates, Inc., 1976;
U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1981) and the Vidler (Sheephorn) project for' di-
verting water from tributaries of the Yampa River upstream from Steamboat Springs
to the Denver, Colo., metropol itan area (Robert Moreland, Vidler Tunnel Corp.,
wr i tten commun., 1977).

Prel iminary reservoir-geometry data for 17 major proposed reservoirs were
obtained from Herbert Dishl.ip (U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, written commun., 1977).
These reservoirs represent 97 percent of the proposed reservoir volume in the ba-
s in (18 projects, 35 reservoi rs). The primary data obtained included water-surface
elevation versus surface area and storage capacity. Prel iminary estimates of the
active storage volumes of each reservoir also were obtained from Herbert Dishlip
(U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, written commun., 1977). Storage volumes are deter-
mined by computing the differences between the volumes of the conservation pool
(usable part of the reservoir storage) and dead storage (nonusable reservoir
storage below outlets). Data for outlet,elevations generally were not available,
so estimates were made from dead-storage or conservation-pool elevations. No data
were available for the amount of active reservoir storage to be allotted to given
downstream needs.

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15

Reservoir Configurations

Seventeen proposed reservoirs involving 10 projects were considered for the
study analysis and are listed in table 3; their locations are shown in figure 1.
The four alternative configurations or options of reservoir development considered
in this study are also summarized in table 3.

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