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<br />GENERAL WATER INFORMATION <br />The water resources of the Yampa River Valley depend <br />primarily upon melting of winter snow packs on the high mountain <br />slopes surrounding the valley. Summer precipitation adds only <br />slightly to the water supply in the region. U.S. Geological <br />Survey stream flow data from gaging stations on the Yampa and <br />Williams Fork Rivers indicate a very heavy flow during the late <br />spring season. <br />The Average Annual water Yield Map for the 1943-1960 <br />period indicates that the water yield from the land surrounding <br />the proposed mine site is less than one inch per year. Since <br />• the basin contains mountainous regions both upstream and down- <br />stream from the Craig area, the total water yield from the Yampa <br />River Basin is large. The main stem of the Yampa River, prior <br />to its confluence with the Little Snake River,, delivers 1,088,400 <br />acre feet of water per year. Total consumptive use of water in <br />the Yampa Valley has been estimated as 72,900 acre feet per year, <br />of which almost 90 percent is used by irrigated crops, stream <br />bank vegetation, seeped land and incidental areas. The remaining <br />10 percent is consumed by industrial, municipal, domestic and <br />livestock use, and by reservoir evaporation. Ground water provides <br />only a fraction of a percent of the water used for irrigation <br />in the basin. <br /> <br />