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<br />Colorado River Mainstem Basin Facts <br /> <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board <br /> <br /> <br />· Sterling <br /> <br />· Greeley <br /> <br />· Denver <br /> <br />Burlingto~ <br /> <br />Gunnis.on <br /> <br />.Colorado <br />Springs <br /> <br />· Pueblo <br />· La Junta <br /> <br />Alamola <br />· Durango <br /> <br />Ove rvi ew <br /> <br />The Colorado River accounts for <br />25 percent of the stream flow leaving <br />the state. Development of the basin <br />yield is limited by interstate compacts <br />with other Colorado River Basin States. <br />Between 450,000 and 600,000 acre-feet <br />is diverted to Eastern Colorado <br />annually. Future development is <br />limited to 120,000 acre-feet by the <br />15-Mile Reach Programmatic Biologi- <br />cal Opinion at the present time. <br /> <br />Major tributaries include the Fraser, <br />Blue, Eagle and Roaring Fork Rivers. <br />Large amounts of u.S. Bureau of <br />Land Management and Forest Service <br />lands are in this basin. Agriculture is <br />the dominant water use, with diver- <br />sions of approximately 2.2 million <br />acre-feet for the irrigation of <br />300,000 acres. <br /> <br />March 2002 <br /> <br /> <br />Dillon Reservoir (Photo courtesy of Linda Strand) <br /> <br />Major Water <br />Organizations <br /> <br />Water Conservation District <br />Colorado River <br /> <br />Water Conservancy Districts <br />Collbran Battlement Mesa <br />Ute Basalt <br />West Divide Bluestone <br />Silt Middle Park <br /> <br />Other Organizations <br />Grand Valley Water Users Association <br />Grand Valley Irrigation Company <br /> <br />Surface Water Diversions in Acre-feet by Use <br /> <br />1998 (AF) <br />D Irrigation 2,185,350 <br />. Storage 434,194 <br />D Municipal 50,289 <br />D Industrial 5,321 <br />. Commercial 2,293 <br />D Domestic 15,315 <br />Ii] Stock 28,438 <br />D Recreation 3,398 <br />. Fish 160,827 <br />III Augmentation 0 <br />D Recharge 0 <br /> <br />Water Year 1998 <br /> <br /> <br />Water Year 1994 <br /> <br /> <br />1994 (AF) <br />1,921,676 <br />450,330 <br />56,267 <br />3,749 <br />131 <br />9,050 <br />36,856 <br />6,131 <br />108,693 <br />280 <br />1 <br /> <br />Total 2,885,425 2,593,164 <br /> <br />Source: Colorado Division of Water Resources, Division 5 Annual Reports <br /> <br />Growth <br /> <br /> <br />Bill Owens <br />Governor <br /> <br />Greg Walcher <br />DNR Executive Director <br /> <br />Rod Kuharich <br />CWCB Director <br /> <br />Greg Hoskin <br />CWCB Member, <br />Colorado River Basin <br /> <br />The basin is comprised of portions <br />or all of ten counties in the western <br />part of the state including small <br />portions of Rio Blanco and Lake <br />Counties; however, the majority of <br />the population is in the eight counties <br />listed in the bar graph below: Be- <br />tween 1990 and 2000, the population <br />in this region increased by 42 percent, <br />and now accounts for 5.5 percent of <br />the state's population. The graph <br />below outlines populations for the <br />portions of the counties that are in <br />this basin. <br /> <br />120 <br /> <br />Colorado River Basin Population by County <br /> <br />100 <br /> <br />Total Basin Population <br />April 1990 164,700 <br />April 2000 234,500 <br /> <br />a;- <br />c.. <br />g 80 <br />c. <br />o <br />o <br />o <br />~ 60 <br />c: <br />o <br />~ 40 <br />c. <br />o <br />a. <br /> <br />Percent Growth = 42% <br /> <br />o <br /> <br /> <br />20 <br /> <br />?:t <br /><v'?i <br /> <br />-s;:.O <br />0''?i <br /> <br />0<::- <br />~Cj <br />~ (;:' <br />o <br />Source: Colorado Department of Local Affairs <br /> <br />~~ <br />~0 <br /> <br />~O ~ <br />~0 ~ov <br />0'?i <br /> <br />~ <::- <br />~~ <br /> <br />~ <br />~~ <br />Cj <br /> <br />01990 .2000 <br /> <br />Additional information about this river basin is <br />available at http:j jcwcb.state.co.us <br />