Hydrologic effects of annually diverting 131,000 acre-feet of water from Dillon Reservoir, central Colorado

Water-Resources Investigations Report 79-2
By: , and 

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Abstract

Because of the increased demands for water in eastern Colorado, principally in the urbanizing Denver metropolitan area, increased diversions of water from Dillon Reservoir are planned. Estimates of end-of-month storage in Dillon Reservoir, assuming the reservoir was in place and 131,000 acre-feet of water were diverted from the reservoir each year, were reconstructed by mass balance for the 1931-77 water years. Based on the analysis, the annual maximum end-of-month drawdown below the elevation at full storage would have averaged 54 feet. The maximum end-of-month drawdown below the elevation at full storage would have been 171 feet. The mean-annual discharge-weighted dissolved-solids concentrations in the Colorado River near Glenwood Springs and Cameo, Colo., and Cisco, Utah, for the 1942-77 water years, were computed assuming an annual diversion of 131,000 acre-feet of water from Dillon Reservoir. The average increases in the dissolved-solids concentrations with the 131 ,000-acre-foot diversion were 15 to 16 milligrams per liter at the three sites. (Woodard-USGS)
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Hydrologic effects of annually diverting 131,000 acre-feet of water from Dillon Reservoir, central Colorado
Series title Water-Resources Investigations Report
Series number 79-2
DOI 10.3133/wri792
Edition -
Year Published 1979
Language ENGLISH
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division,
Description iv, 17 p. :ill., map ;26 cm.
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