7378

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7378
• Author: Wydoski, R. S.
• Title: Potential Impacts of Alterations in Streamflow and Water Quality on Fish and Macroinvertebrates in the Upper Colorado River Basin.
• USFW Year: 1980.
• USFW - Doc Type: 77-147
• Copyright Material: YES

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77

Chapter 8

POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF ALTERATIONS IN STREAMFLOW
AND WATER QUALITY ON FISH AND MACROINVERTEBRATES
IN THE UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN

Richard S. Wydoski*

Introduction

"The Colorado is probably the most utilized, controlled, and fought

over river in the world, It flows through lands of incomparable beauty

and includes nea~ly seven percent of the nstion's contiguous land mass,

including parU of seven states. From the time of the early settlers to

the present, the water of the Colorado River has been the key to develop-

ment of the arid region,"

The above preamble, as quoted from Crawford and Peterson (1974~,

describes concisely the history and importance of the Colorado River

Basin. This river flows through 1,440 miles of arid to semiarid land,

but the basin produces only 60 acre-feet of water per square mile annu-

ally (Utah Water Research Laboratory, 1975), which is less than that of

any other major river in the United States, The water from this river

serves 15 million people by supplying water for cities, irrigation,

industry, mining, and energy production,

*Utah Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, Utah'State University,
Logan, Utah,

The Utah Cooperative Fishery Research Unit is jointly sponsored by
the Utah State University, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. and
U,S. Fish and Wildlife Service,