WSP05269

• File Number: 8142.400
• Description: Trinidad Project - Reports
• State: CO
• Basin: Arkansas
• Water Division: 2
• Date: 4/1/1964
• Author: US BOR
• Title: US Bureau of Reclamation - Trinidad Irrigation and Flood Control Project - Preliminary Report - Volume I
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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decrees which probably cannot be satisfied by return flow. There-

fore, it is considered that regulation should not begin until the

discharge reaches 300 second-feet. A maximum release below spill~~y

level of 700 second-feet is adopted, since records show that total

average daily diversions by ditches in the Trinidad area approach
but seldom exceed this amount.
Considerable flood water is lost to irrig~tors in the
Trinidad area, in part because peak flows exceed diversion capacities,

and in part because headgates are often shut down during floods to

prevent silting and overloading of ditches. Reservoir operation

studies show that all peak discharges of record in 1922-l937,

except those of July 23, 192.5 and July 30, 1927 can be reduced to 700

second-feet or less. With such regula ti on, the loss of stream flow

due to conditions just mentioned will be largely eliminated. The

amount of water. thus n~de available to ditches near Trinidad is

considered to equal the difference between the recorded average

daily discharge at ~Tinidad when it exceeds the minimum regulated

flow of 300 second-feet and the total average daily ditch diversions

for such days. These amounts are computed for each flood for the

period 1929-l937, for which daily diversion records are practically

complete. For 1922-l928, when such data are not available, the total

water saved is derived from a correlation b ~tween the annual amount

saved and the annual discharge at Trinidad in excess of 300 second-

feet, as obtained from the 1929-l937 records. The total water

made available to irrigators annually is shown in Table 7.

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