ARKANSAS RIVER BASIN

07124200 PURGATOIRE RIVER AT MADRID, CO

LOCATION.--Lat 37°07'46", long 104°38'22", in SW14NE14 sec.35, T.33 S., R.65 W., Las Animas County, Hydrologic Unit 11020010, on left bank 70 ft downstream from county road bridge, 0.3 mi northeast of Madrid, 1.0 mi downstream from Burro Canyon, and 9 mi west of Trinidad.

DRAINAGE AREA.--505 mi2.

PERIOD OF RECORD.--March 1972 to current year. Daily record for water temperature and specific conductance available, March 1979 to July 1981. Daily record for suspended sediment available, October 1978 to September 1981. For a complete listing of historical data available for this site, see http://waterdata.usgs.gov/co/nwis/inventory/?site_no=07124200

GAGE.--Water-stage recorder with satellite telemetry and crest-stage gage. Datum of gage is 6,261.61 ft above NGVD of 1929 (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bench mark).

REMARKS.--Records good except for June 16, Sept. 3, and estimated daily discharges, which are poor. Natural flow of stream affected by storage reservoirs, diversions for irrigation and municipal use, ground-water withdrawals, and return flows from irrigated areas. Several measurements of specific conductance and water temperature were obtained and are published in the "Supplemental Water-Quality Data For Gaging Stations" section of this report.

Discharge, cubic feet per second 

WATER YEAR OCTOBER 2002 TO SEPTEMBER 2003

DAILY MEAN VALUES

DAY	OCT	NOV	DEC	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP
1	18	15	e12	e13	10	12	17	30	217	56	33	110
2	19	14	13	e13	10	14	19	31	186	54	30	99
3	22	14	e13	e13	11	12	18	29	177	47	31	291
4	21	15	e12	e12	8.6	14	19	27	163	46	32	160
5	20	14	e11	e12	8.6	13	19	27	226	43	45	144
6	19	13	e10	e13	e9.0	12	18	24	177	44	42	137
7	18	13	e10	e12	e9.0	12	19	22	144	53	35	179
8	18	14	e10	e13	e9.0	12	18	25	134	52	33	133
9	18	13	e11	e12	e10	12	18	24	117	47	34	116
10	18	17	e9.0	e12	e12	12	18	23	113	43	35	173
11	16	15	e9.0	e12	e13	13	18	23	118	43	32	181
12	16	13	e9.0	e13	e13	14	19	22	126	42	34	168
13	16	13	e9.0	e13	e14	14	20	21	117	41	35	160
14	16	16	e10	e12	e14	13	20	24	108	39	35	159
15	15	15	e9.0	e12	e13	14	21	27	102	44	34	143
16	15	13	e9.0	e11	e13	14	22	35	171	42	33	129
17	15	14	e9.0	e12	e12	15	21	41	98	38	32	116
18	15	14	e10	e11	e12	16	20	54	99	36	43	111
19	15	13	e10	e11	e11	19	32	71	153	35	50	107
20	15	13	e9.0	e12	e10	19	39	83	139	44	48	96
21	14	e12	e10	e12	e11	23	40	80	95	45	42	89
22	14	e11	e10	12	11	22	32	74	79	83	41	80
23	15	e10	e9.0	e12	12	19	36	87	71	52	47	75
24	15	e10	e10	e12	11	18	32	108	67	27	46	69
25	15	e9.0	e11	11	11	18	29	106	63	19	46	66
26	14	e9.0	e11	11	e13	18	27	84	70	20	63	62
27	16	e9.0	e10	13	e14	19	26	78	69	34	63	58
28	16	e9.0	e10	12	e12	21	29	94	78	59	57	58
29	15	e10	e11	11	---	17	28	121	61	98	128	59
30	15	e11	e10	9.5	---	17	29	154	60	64	187	52
31	13	---	e12	11	---	18	---	208	---	44	134	---
TOTAL	507	381.0	318.0	370.5	317.2	486	723	1,857	3,598	1,434	1,580	3,580
MEAN	16.4	12.7	10.3	12.0	11.3	15.7	24.1	59.9	120	46.3	51.0	119
MAX	22	17	13	13	14	23	40	208	226	98	187	291
MIN	13	9.0	9.0	9.5	8.6	12	17	21	60	19	30	52
AC-FT	1,010	756	631	735	629	964	1,430	3,680	7,140	2,840	3,130	7,100
STATISTICS OF MONTHLY MEAN DATA FOR WATER YEARS 1972 - 2003, BY WATER YEAR (WY)
MEAN	29.8	24.5	20.7	18.6	19.2	20.6	45.3	140	190	120	108	55.6
MAX	78.5	39.2	40.3	36.6	37.2	55.9	204	547	589	313	342	232
(WY)	(1983)	(1999)	(1984)	(1984)	(1983)	(1987)	(1987)	(1999)	(1983)	(1983)	(1981)	(1981)
MIN	9.89	12.7	8.47	7.60	5.80	9.72	11.0	14.4	9.51	12.5	8.12	11.0
(WY)	(1973)	(1977)	(1977)	(1973)	(1977)	(1979)	(2002)	(2002)	(2002)	(2002)	(2002)	(1978)

SUMMARY STATISTICS	FOR 2002 CALENDAR YEAR	FOR 2003 WATER YEAR	WATER YEARS 1972 - 2003
ANNUAL TOTAL	4,638.1	15,151.7
ANNUAL MEAN	12.7	41.5	67.7
HIGHEST ANNUAL MEAN			145 1983
LOWEST ANNUAL MEAN			13.0 2002
HIGHEST DAILY MEAN	133 Sep 19	291 Sep 3	1,640 Sep 7, 1981
LOWEST DAILY MEAN	1.4 Sep 7	8.6 Feb 4	1.4 Sep 7, 2002
ANNUAL SEVEN-DAY MINIMUM	2.8 Aug 26	9.1 Dec 10	2.8 Aug 26, 2002
MAXIMUM PEAK FLOW		a2,360 Sep 3	b14,300 Jul 20, 1976
MAXIMUM PEAK STAGE		6.61 Sep 3	c12.80 Jul 20, 1976
ANNUAL RUNOFF (AC-FT)	9,200	30,050	49,010
10 PERCENT EXCEEDS	17	114	171
50 PERCENT EXCEEDS	12	19	29
90 PERCENT EXCEEDS	5.3	10	13

e Estimated. a From rating curve extended above 832 ft3/s on basis of slope-area measurement of peak flow at gage height 10.90 ft and timed-drift measurement of peak flow at gage height 12.80 ft. b From timed-drift measurement of peak flow. c From floodmarks.