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USGS
Water Resources of Colorado


SAN JUAN RIVER BASIN

09365500 LA PLATA RIVER AT HESPERUS, CO

LOCATION.--Lat 37°17'23", long 108°02'24", in NE14SW14 sec.14, T.35 N., R.11 W., La Plata County, Hydrologic Unit 14080105, on right bank at Hesperus, 700 ft downstream from U.S. Highway 160.

DRAINAGE AREA.--37 mi2, approximately.

PERIOD OF RECORD.--June to August 1904, May 1905 to September 1906, August to November 1910, June 1917 to current year. Monthly discharge only for some periods, published in WSP 1313. Records for Nov. 11 to Dec. 31, 1910, published in WSP 289, have been found to be unreliable and should not be used. For a complete listing of historical data available for this site, see http://waterdata.usgs.gov/co/nwis/inventory/?site_no=09365500

REVISED RECORDS.--WSP 1243: 1906(M). WSP 1563: 1923 (monthly figures only). See also PERIOD OF RECORD.

GAGE.--Water-stage recorder with satellite telemetry and concrete flume. Datum of gage is 8,104.71 ft above NGVD of 1929. Prior to May 1, 1920, nonrecording gage, and May 1, 1920 to May 24, 1927, water-stage recorder, at several sites about 600 ft downstream at different datums. May 25, 1927 to Sept. 30, 1938, water-stage recorder at site 60 ft downstream and Oct. 1, 1938 to Sept. 30, 1941, at present site at datum 1.00 ft higher.

REMARKS.--Records good except for estimated daily discharges, which are poor. Cherry Creek ditch exports water upstream from station for irrigation of about 2,000 acres in Cherry Creek drainage. The Pine Ridge ditch diverts water upstream from station for irrigation of about 300 acres downstream, and also for irrigation of about 300 acres in each of the Lightner and Basin Creek drainages. The Pine River ditch also diverts up to 1,000 acre-ft for storage in the Lightner Creek drainage.

COOPERATION.--Records collected and computed by Colorado Division of Water Resources and reviewed by Geological Survey.

EXTREMES OUTSIDE PERIOD OF RECORD.--Maximum flood observed occurred Oct. 5, 1911.

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

11

8.5

12

5.7

6.4

e5.5

21

84

135

20

8.0

25

2

12

8.2

12

e5.0

6.7

5.5

24

82

129

19

8.5

21

3

14

8.2

12

e5.0

7.1

5.4

22

76

111

18

9.0

19

4

13

7.8

12

e5.0

e7.0

5.4

23

80

95

17

9.6

19

5

13

7.4

11

5.0

e6.5

5.4

24

66

80

16

9.8

19

6

13

7.4

11

5.0

e6.0

5.3

25

53

65

15

9.8

20

7

14

7.4

10

e5.0

e6.0

5.4

24

46

54

14

10

33

8

14

7.5

9.9

e5.0

e6.5

5.5

24

41

51

13

12

25

9

15

13

9.4

4.8

e6.5

5.6

25

37

50

13

12

58

10

14

11

8.5

4.8

e7.0

5.9

29

33

48

12

12

156

11

14

10

8.4

4.8

e7.0

6.4

47

29

50

11

12

77

12

13

9.4

8.2

4.6

e7.5

7.4

70

33

51

10

12

60

13

13

8.8

8.2

4.6

8.4

7.6

65

50

44

9.9

12

53

14

13

8.4

8.2

4.6

9.4

6.7

80

57

39

9.6

12

49

15

12

8.2

8.2

4.6

9.0

6.7

81

87

38

9.0

12

41

16

12

8.2

8.1

4.7

8.2

7.2

66

83

38

8.8

11

36

17

12

8.2

6.6

4.7

7.8

8.4

67

140

35

8.5

11

31

18

12

8.2

5.9

e4.8

7.8

8.9

67

138

37

8.0

11

28

19

11

8.2

5.5

4.9

7.6

9.0

59

124

37

8.0

10

25

20

10

7.6

e5.5

5.0

7.3

9.9

51

143

39

7.6

10

23

21

9.5

7.8

5.8

5.0

6.9

12

49

167

34

8.0

10

21

22

9.4

7.8

6.8

5.0

6.7

13

49

195

32

8.1

9.3

19

23

12

7.8

6.7

5.1

6.6

14

46

195

29

7.8

10

17

24

11

8.2

5.6

5.0

6.0

16

42

172

27

7.8

11

16

25

10

8.2

e5.5

5.0

e6.0

16

44

172

25

7.6

11

15

26

11

8.2

e5.5

e5.0

e6.0

16

67

169

24

7.2

11

14

27

11

8.8

e5.5

5.3

5.9

14

91

183

23

7.6

11

14

28

10

9.6

e5.5

5.4

5.9

14

98

194

22

7.7

14

13

29

9.7

10

e5.5

5.8

---

15

99

174

21

7.6

22

12

30

9.3

11

5.5

6.3

---

14

88

163

21

7.4

26

12

31

8.8

---

e5.5

6.4

---

16

---

163

---

7.4

32

---

TOTAL

366.7

259.0

244.0

156.9

195.7

293.1

1,567

3,429

1,484

331.6

381.0

971

MEAN

11.8

8.63

7.87

5.06

6.99

9.45

52.2

111

49.5

10.7

12.3

32.4

MAX

15

13

12

6.4

9.4

16

99

195

135

20

32

156

MIN

8.8

7.4

5.5

4.6

5.9

5.3

21

29

21

7.2

8.0

12

AC-FT

727

514

484

311

388

581

3,110

6,800

2,940

658

756

1,930

STATISTICS OF MONTHLY MEAN DATA FOR WATER YEARS 1918 - 2003, BY WATER YEAR (WY)
MEAN

15.1

10.6

8.20

6.94

7.36

15.5

81.0

169

130

37.3

23.6

20.3

MAX

148

54.3

20.4

15.0

18.0

54.2

203

384

421

154

79.1

124

(WY)

(1942)

(1942)

(1987)

(1926)

(1971)

(1997)

(1924)

(1941)

(1980)

(1957)

(1999)

(1927)

MIN

3.27

3.11

2.94

2.65

3.06

3.83

8.40

19.8

8.78

3.65

3.38

3.73

(WY)

(1957)

(1938)

(1938)

(1938)

(1990)

(1977)

(1977)

(1977)

(2002)

(2002)

(2002)

(1956)

SUMMARY STATISTICS
FOR 2002 CALENDAR YEAR
FOR 2003 WATER YEAR
WATER YEARS 1918 - 2003
ANNUAL TOTAL
3,502.3
9,679.0
ANNUAL MEAN
9.60
26.5
43.8
HIGHEST ANNUAL MEAN
90.5 1941
LOWEST ANNUAL MEAN
8.62 2002
HIGHEST DAILY MEAN
57 Sep 11
195 May 22
934 Jun 28, 1927
LOWEST DAILY MEAN
2.7 Sep 2
4.6 Jan 12
1.0 Feb 22, 1939
ANNUAL SEVEN-DAY MINIMUM
2.8 Aug 31
4.7 Jan 11
1.9 Oct 13, 1917
MAXIMUM PEAK FLOW
232 May 23
a1,880 Sep 22, 1941
MAXIMUM PEAK STAGE
4.81 May 23
b4.30 Sep 22, 1941
ANNUAL RUNOFF (AC-FT)
6,950
19,200
31,740
10 PERCENT EXCEEDS
22
67
125
50 PERCENT EXCEEDS
5.9
11
13
90 PERCENT EXCEEDS
3.3
5.5
5.1

e Estimated.
a Present datum, from rating curve extended above 620 ft3/s, on basis of slope-area measurement of peak flow.
b Maximum gage height for period of record, 5.13 ft, Sep 6, 1970.


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Water Resources of Colorado
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