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<br />flows also will be compared with estimated water requirements for the crops
<br />and acreages. under irrigation; possibly, some of the water being diverted 15
<br />not ut i 1 Ized,.
<br />
<br />leg;ll compacts within the Colorado RIver system will be reviewed to de-
<br />termine if specific stipulations have been made regarding salinity composition
<br />and loadings of the Yampa River basi,n, Compliance with, or violation of,
<br />State or Federal stream-qual ity standards needs to be evaluated--both under
<br />present conditIons, and as a result ofposslb1e increases in water util ization
<br />resulting from energy-resource extraction and use.
<br />
<br />Implementation of water-development proJects depends to a large extent
<br />upon availability of water rights and compliance with existing basin-compact
<br />requirements, ather- relevant factors include poss ible des ignation of the low-
<br />e.r Yampa River in Dinosaur NatIonal Monument as a .Wild and ScenIc River reach
<br />(U.S. Bureau of O'utdoor Recreation, oral commun, , 1975).
<br />
<br />Development of ground-water resources is",aMicipated, by uti I izing water
<br />principally from shallow alluvial aqu.ifers;. PUmpage from wells recharged by
<br />adjacent,streams is subject to water-rIghtsi'restrictions applicable to conjunc-
<br />tive surface- and ground-water use,
<br />
<br />Surface Wate.r
<br />
<br />Several proposed. developmental programs for the Yampa River bas in primar-
<br />i Iy involve surface'. water, Nume'rous reservoirs in the basin' have been propos-
<br />ed (U,S, Bun~au o.f'land Mana~em7nt and U,S, Geologica~ S~'rvey! written commun.,
<br />1976), totaling nearly 1.9m'llllon acre-feet (2,250' mllllon'mj) of storage.
<br />This is about 20"percent greater than the mean annual flow of the Yampa River
<br />maJns.tem, entering. the. Green Ri,ver near the U,t'ah State line. Projected princi-
<br />pa.l uses of the' impaunded waters would be for i.rrlgation anid power,
<br />
<br />O'nly one major' reservoir' (Ste'ambaat lake on WIllow Oreek, a tributary of
<br />the.E.lk River nOl"'t'I:1',o,f. Steamboa.t Springs,. 18,600 acre"ft or 23xlO'6 m3) current-
<br />ly exists. in the basd,n; numerous. smaller reservoirs provide water mostly for
<br />Hves.t,ock and irdg<l>t'ion purposes. E.lkhead Reservoir, recently constructed on
<br />Elkhea'd Creek northeast of era ig, was. bullt for recreationa'l use and for tem-
<br />porary starage' of c:.ooling water for, the Cra,ig' power p,lan't under construc,tion,
<br />EvaJuatHm' of varJ:0us reservoJrp'lans in' v,l:ew, of projected'en.ergy-re.lated
<br />needS w.i 11' constitu,te. an Important componef!lt of the bas i rri assessment;
<br />. . ,
<br />
<br />Streamflow modeling wi 11 be" used: to de'termine long-terln' water avai labi 1-
<br />ity,. Da,i1y stre'am"'d'i'scharge data, have been collected atapprox.lmately 75
<br />loca't:ion5 within"the, Yampa River basin; the perfod 'of record at about 35 of
<br />these. sites 15. suflfic::Jent (gre.ate'r than oreqt;1l11 to 10, years data) for fre-
<br />quency-durati on s'taHs,t ical analysis; The data, which have been collected
<br />under va,r'ious pro9'!\"ams, cover vary in'9 t-ime per'iods. To help set up a un I'form
<br />data base, a da:llVi'fHow- rout i ng model is needed,
<br />
<br />A da i ly un I t-response rout in'g' techni que' descri bed by S'8uer (1973) Is a'
<br />potent! all method, for'e'xtendclng,s,t,re'amflow. reco.rd.s. The unit- response techn i que
<br />as des,c.rl.bed by., Sauer is a. slmpliHed 1 i,neecr method of flow rout ing in open
<br />chan'nels,. ,he bas,,i'c theory of thJs;me'th,od Is, that a flow input of unit rate
<br />
<br />16
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