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<br />,'-" 7 <br />~~;;; <br /> <br />CHAPTER' <br /> <br />HYDROGRAPHY <br /> <br />COLORADO RIVER AND COLORADO RIVER AQUEDUCT <br /> <br />At. CCURATE and adequate runoff and other stream gaging <br />n records were 'ccut'ed continuously throughout 1945-46 for <br />all necessary stations on the lower Colorado River and its <br />tributaries through cooperation with the U, S, Geological Survey <br />as in previous years. Operating problems were mllch simplified <br />with the removal of gasoline and other travel restrictions which <br />had made satisfactory supervision of stream gaging activities very <br />difficult in sllch an immen,~e area as t.he 250,000 square miles of the <br />Colorado River basin, Personnel problems also were gradually <br />reduced with tbe return of trained observers from military service, <br />but rising costs and reduced federal budgets have forced the re- <br />consideration of Rtream gaging programs and the elimination of <br />a few desirable bllt possibly not absolutely essential stations. So <br />far as known, the war period has resulted in the loss of no impor. <br />tant or essential hydrographic records, but this condition may be <br />even harder to maintain during the post-war period of necessary <br />emphasis on economy. <br />Based on preliminary data, unpublished a, yet and subject to <br />reds ion, the discharge of t.he Colorado River above Lake Mead <br />was approximately 9,130,000 acre feet for the "water year" ending <br />September 30, 1946. Including measured side inflow and also un. <br />measured gains into Lake Mead, the total inflow was approximately <br />9,400,000 acre feet, or abollt 63 per cent of the estimated normal <br />flow at Boulder Dam, allowing for the effect of past upstream <br />depletion, Lake Mead storage reached a maximum of 23,045,000 <br />acre feet, including :1,207,000 acre feet of dead storage, with a <br />water surface elevation of 1164,30 feet on ,Iuly 7, 1946. This was t <br />18 feet lower than the Augllst 20,1945 maximum and 56 feet lower <br />than the maximum of record in 1941. On April 19, 1946, before <br />th~ ,.tart of the flood runoff, the minimum storage was 20,870,000 A <br />acre feet and the ,,'ater level at 1146.50 was the lowest stage of <br />Lake Mead since June 9, 1938. I <br />On Fig. 5 are plotted Boulder Dam dhcharges and Lake Mead <br /> <br />~ 56 J <br />