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\' L ; ~'- J9'i'6 RUEDI DAM AND RESERVOIR, COLO. .29 HYDROLOGY r Int-rodlMJlion In terms of water supply and storage capacity, Ruedi Dam and Reservoir will be more tban a substitute for Aspen Dam aud Reser- voir. The water supply and storage space in Ruedi which is not required. for replacement purposes ca.n serve beneficial uses. on the 'Western slope in Colorado. The reservoir' also would provide uses and benefits for such associated funet.ions as flood eontroJ, fish and wildlife conservation, and recrea.tion. In view of the vast oil shale reserVes in western Colorado, the ext.ensive investments made in experimentation and acquisition of shale lands, and the imminence of commercial oil shale development, t,he tentative plan of operation adopted for analysis in this report is based on use of water for municipal and industrial purposes. WaleI' supply No hist.orical streamflow records of the Fryingpan River are avail- able at t.he RlIecli Dam site. However, riverflow records are available at the former Thomasville gaging station about G miles upstream from the damsite, for a 10-year period-1911 to 1920. The Thomasville gaging station commanded a. drainage area of 175 square miles as contrasted with a 228-square-mile area above the RlIedi Dam site. DUJ'ing prfH'jollS investigations in recent. years tJle un depleted flow of the Fryingpl1,ll River- at the Ruedi Dam site was compnted for a 34-year period-lOll to 1944. In this ('omputation the RlIedi flows were est,imated by drainage a.rea relationship and correlation with recorded flo"s at Thomasville and with records on the Roaring Fork RiYeI' at Glenwood Springs. Streamflow records also are available for the Fryingpan Ri vel' at Norrie and on the North Fork of the Fryingl'an near Norrie from 1947 to the present. time. Norrie, Colo., is situated about 10 miles upstream from the Ruedi Dam site and commands a drainage area of 131 square miles. Riverflows at Ruedi were estimated by correlation with N ort'ie reeords for the period 1945 to 1957. Combining t.he est.imates for the overall period-1911 to 1957- annualllndeplet.ed strenmflows at Rlledi averaged ID5,DOO acre-feet, ranging from a low of 8G,700 acre-feet ,n 1934 to a high of 341,200 ac.re-feet in 1957. Depletion.' Exeept for negligible irrigation nse of water on the western slope for which data are not a,'ailable, the major depletions to the Frying- p~n R.iver above Ruooi will resnlt from the existing Busk-Ivanhoo it dIverSIOns to. the eastern slope and from the pote~tial Fryingpan- .' Atkansas project dIverSIOns. Combmed, these diversIOns are expected ,<. to avetage 74,100 aere-feet annuallJ for the 1911-57 period of study. " r"' , ~, r ., t~: "