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.