DOLORES RIVER BASIN

09166500 DOLORES RIVER AT DOLORES, CO

LOCATION.--Lat 37°28'21", long 108°29'49", in SW14SW14 sec.10, T.37 N., R.15 W., Montezuma County, Hydrologic Unit 14030002, on left bank
0.30 mi upstream from bridge on State Highway 184 in Dolores and 0.8 mi upstream from Lost Canyon Creek.

DRAINAGE AREA.--504 mi2.

PERIOD OF RECORD.--June 1895 to October 1903, August 1910 to November 1912, October 1921 to current year. Monthly discharge only for some periods, published in WSP 1313. For a complete listing of historical data available for this site, see http://waterdata.usgs.gov/co/nwis/inventory/?site_no=09166500

REVISED RECORDS.--WSP 859: 1937. WRD Colo. 1972: Drainage area.

GAGE.--Water-stage recorder with satellite telemetry. Elevation of gage is 6,940 ft above NGVD of 1929, from topographic map. See WSP 1713 or 1733 for history of changes prior to Oct. 7, 1952. Oct. 7, 1952 to Nov. 16, 1983, at site 0.4 mi downstream at different datum.

REMARKS.--Records good except for Sep. 15-30 and estimated daily discharges, which are poor. Diversions for irrigation of about 2,000 acres upstream from station. Flow partly regulated by Ground Hog Reservoir, capacity, 21,710 acre-ft. 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	71	67	e69	e22	e28	e29	146	931	1,430	152	127	218
2	74	64	e62	e24	e35	e19	176	894	1,430	148	120	184
3	117	61	e68	e34	e34	e18	158	893	1,270	150	126	171
4	112	55	e71	e38	e25	e38	133	995	1,120	143	116	158
5	97	55	e60	e25	e28	e40	136	792	986	137	103	168
6	99	48	e59	e27	e24	e42	132	661	833	126	83	185
7	94	51	e55	e37	e17	e46	118	602	720	118	74	242
8	90	61	e36	e35	e19	46	104	576	659	115	83	203
9	85	97	e29	e40	e22	47	139	518	638	110	88	254
10	81	96	e33	e44	e28	54	212	472	603	99	77	1,210
11	77	76	e28	e27	e28	64	328	444	578	136	78	800
12	71	59	e25	e16	e57	75	445	560	522	135	79	594
13	70	61	e34	e25	e69	87	485	787	453	134	99	523
14	68	70	e40	e36	e69	106	633	854	404	127	242	449
15	65	68	e24	e41	e52	111	729	1,120	382	124	209	372
16	58	50	e39	e34	e35	124	539	1,080	377	125	171	316
17	58	e47	e53	e32	e33	121	580	1,490	338	135	182	270
18	59	e47	e47	e20	e43	99	593	1,450	310	140	166	236
19	57	e51	e35	e12	e39	92	480	1,420	297	138	159	209
20	54	e46	e28	e21	e38	87	436	1,410	325	140	137	186
21	52	e46	e22	e30	e39	e97	539	1,500	278	134	131	169
22	52	e50	e20	e37	e23	90	641	1,680	257	137	137	155
23	63	e55	e20	e35	e19	107	543	1,750	248	138	123	139
24	73	58	e23	e35	e21	133	448	1,580	229	95	169	129
25	70	67	e23	e34	44	136	592	1,490	209	80	193	119
26	65	56	e24	e34	49	139	892	e1,620	196	74	177	110
27	74	79	e24	e26	48	134	1,070	e1,730	193	75	158	103
28	70	e74	e21	e28	e45	104	e1,020	1,880	185	99	227	96
29	70	e72	e20	e37	---	87	e934	1,820	176	169	295	87
30	68	e72	e20	e34	---	98	e941	1,660	171	180	265	78
31	65	---	e21	e29	---	e123	---	1,590	---	131	287	---
TOTAL	2,279	1,859	1,133	949	1,011	2,593	14,322	36,249	15,817	3,944	4,681	8,133
MEAN	73.5	62.0	36.5	30.6	36.1	83.6	477	1,169	527	127	151	271
MAX	117	97	71	44	69	139	1,070	1,880	1,430	180	295	1,210
MIN	52	46	20	12	17	18	104	444	171	74	74	78
AC-FT	4,520	3,690	2,250	1,880	2,010	5,140	28,410	71,900	31,370	7,820	9,280	16,130
STATISTICS OF MONTHLY MEAN DATA FOR WATER YEARS 1896 - 2003, BY WATER YEAR (WY)
MEAN	133	83.7	58.7	52.2	56.2	129	741	1,732	1,344	403	237	182
MAX	1,247	453	199	151	140	458	1,955	3,625	3,470	1,490	650	1,354
(WY)	(1942)	(1942)	(1987)	(1987)	(1987)	(1997)	(1942)	(1922)	(1957)	(1957)	(1999)	(1927)
MIN	26.0	20.0	19.8	19.3	20.0	25.0	158	235	67.2	55.4	29.0	33.5
(WY)	(1902)	(1902)	(1990)	(1990)	(1902)	(1899)	(1977)	(1977)	(2002)	(1934)	(1900)	(1899)

SUMMARY STATISTICS	FOR 2002 CALENDAR YEAR	FOR 2003 WATER YEAR	WATER YEARS 1896 - 2003
ANNUAL TOTAL	36,875	92,970
ANNUAL MEAN	101	255	430
HIGHEST ANNUAL MEAN			790 1942
LOWEST ANNUAL MEAN			87.0 1977
HIGHEST DAILY MEAN	444 Apr 15	1,880 May 28	6,950 May 5, 1922
LOWEST DAILY MEAN	12 Aug 28	e12 Jan 19	8.0 Aug 16, 1896
ANNUAL SEVEN-DAY MINIMUM	16 Aug 23	22 Dec 26	12 Aug 10, 1896
MAXIMUM PEAK FLOW		2,140 May 28	a10,000 Oct 5, 1911
MAXIMUM PEAK STAGE		4.79 May 28	10.20 Oct 5, 1911
ANNUAL RUNOFF (AC-FT)	73,140	184,400	311,800
10 PERCENT EXCEEDS	297	789	1,390
50 PERCENT EXCEEDS	53	99	120
90 PERCENT EXCEEDS	24	28	40

e Estimated. a Site and datum then in use, from rating curve extended above 2800 ft3/s.