DWR_4151881

• Title: SEPTEMBER 1994 SWSI: COLORADO WATER SUPPLY CONDITIONS UPDATE, SURFACE WATER SUPPLY INDEX
• Year: 1994
• Document Type - Publications and Reports: SWSI Monthly Report

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COLORADO BASIN
Basinwide Conditions Assessment:
The SWSI value of-2.3 indicates that for August the COLORADO RIVER BASIN
Surface Water Supply 'RR*.Nlstory
basin water supplies were well below normal. Storage in 5
Green Mountain, Ruedi, and Williams Fork reservoirs totaled 4
89% of normal on August 31. Flow at the gaging station 1
W - 3
Colorado River near Dotsero averaged 1,348 cfs as compared -
to the 1961-1993 August average of 1,760 cfs. The National Y
. :7
Weather Service reports basin precipitation as 113%of normal
2
during the month. _ l • -- -it lis 7, iC
Outlook ✓- ; t `` -, r
l'1 r
The month of August was hot and city once again °
except for a few isolated periods of small precipitation. The 3
stream levels are extremely low and will enter the winter ...,.- .
JANOS JAN136 JAN97 JAN S JA189 JAN90 JAN91 JAN92 JAN33 JAN94
season well below the normal flow rates. WelTrY YEAR
Administrative/Management Concerns
Most of the crop irrigation is finished with only a few .
users trying to get the fields wet one more time before winter.
On the Colorado River, the Shoshone Hydroelectric Power COLORADO RIVER NR. DOTSERO
FLOW MY WATER YEAR
Plant in Glenwood Canyon reinstated their 1250 cfs call 3.2
(12/9/1907) on September 7, 1994. Near Palisade,the Grand ,3
Valley Project went to their senior 730 cfs call (7/22/1912) on 2.6
August 5, 1994. Water has been released out of Green 21 -
Mountain Reservoir to compensate for out-of-priority `rt 2
diversions covered by the Colorado-Big Thompson agreement. o
The US Bureau of Reclamation in cooperation with > 1.4
the US Fish and Wildlife Service has continued to release 1.2
water out of Ruedi Reservoir to enhance the flows in the 1
n+
critical reach of the Colorado River below the Grand Valley °6
0.4
Canal. Up to 20,000 acre-feet of water could be released as 0.2
needed to preserve the habitat of the endangered Squaw Fish. 0
Oct Nov DSC Jan Feb March /Orll Vey June July AID Soot
WNTN
0 WET C19.4) O DRY[1977) • AVG % 1994
Public Use Impacts
Once again Glenwood Springs became the focus of
national attention. On the evening of September 1 several
severe thunderstorms occurred on Storm King Mountain in the
same area that the forest fire happened two months earlier. REPRESENTATIVE RESERVOIRS
COLORADO RIVER BASIN
The area is extremely steep and now,without vegetive cover, 440
erosive. The storms caused massive mud slides which swept 130
,
20
across I-70 and blocked the highway for over 13 hours. ,
100
i00
�g eD_///\
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2 SO_./7\
2 .D/\
30
zo
10 / \
Green Mountain RIMdI •II(leem Fork
® Avp V 61 Contents ® V 31VH Contents
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