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<br />-- <br />c"" \ PRICE RIVER DRAINAGE <br />t:;:'8~ <br />R;,+wasatch Ca, <br />/ \Uta-heo",,- --. <br />"\ \ Caltono '---4h \ <br />(Utah CO'-....J 8 I I ~2 i Duchesne Co, <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />\~8 4 2 I r{rice I 2'-J~ <br />\\ \ \ \ Wellington ';1\ , <br /> <br />)Hiawatha 0 Dra~erton I <br /> <br />'V-)~--~o."-~---- ----..Y\--~ <br />Emery Co. <br />r <br />"Elmo I <br />, 0 I <br />'\ I I <br />Scale I' 50,000 ""' I \ <br />"\..."'\. Woodside \ <br />" 9 '\ <br />I (/ \ <br />"- /'.......... "'-..' ,.,./'\.. -...... / <br /> <br /> <br />1'V <br />o <br />01 <br />en <br /> <br /> <br />Figure 2.3, <br /> <br />Mean annual water yield in inches (Utah Division of Water Resources 1975). <br /> <br />in the San Rafael Basin. Consumptive use <br />occurs in municipalities, irrigated areas, <br />and natural wetlands. About half of the <br />inflow leaves the basin as, river outflow at <br />Woodside. Figure 2.4 d~picts the estimated <br />mean annual water budget. <br /> <br />Table 2.2 shows the mean monthly flows <br />at selected gaging stations. In the central <br />basin, only Desert Seep Wash is gaged. In <br />total, the tributaries contribute approxi- <br />mately 39,000 acre-feet of water per year to <br />the va lley. <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />Wat~r.quality <br /> <br />The streams within the upland canyons <br />generally contain relatively high quality <br />water of less than 500 mg/l. Except for <br />periods of high snowmelt runoff, all of the <br />Price River lowland tributaries contribute <br />low quality water (Mundorff 1972), Other- <br />wise, the streams show no significant sea- <br />sonal variation in total dissolved solids <br />concentration. <br /> <br />Within the valley stream channels, <br />efflorescence (salt crusted around the <br />channel periphery) accumulates during periods <br />of low flow. During periods of runoff, the <br />efflorescence is dissolved and flushed into <br />the stream. <br /> <br />Mundorff (1972) regards diffuse agricul- <br />tural return flows as a probable major source <br />of salt input to the Price River. Williams <br />(1975) hypothesized that a major salt loading <br />source was the surface runoff from rains and <br />snow over the Mancos Shale badlands. He also <br />discusses the possibility of saline flow from <br />the sandstone clastics and identifies coal <br />processing as another possible major can- <br />t r i bu tor. <br /> <br />In the upper Price River drainage, <br />suspended solids are not a problem; but in <br />the valley, concentrations as high as 64,800 <br />mg/1 have been recorded. On one day when <br />samples were taken along the Price River, <br />total suspended solids ranged from 180 mg/l <br />above Scofield to 226 mg/l at Heiner and <br />2,119 mg/l at Woodside (Mundorff 1972). <br /> <br />13 <br /> <br />