Arkansas River Basin Report: Cooperative Study

Excerpts from the report: The Arkansas River Basin in Colorado can best be described as a great plains area bounded on the west by the eastern face of the Rocky Mountains. It covers approximately 28,415 square miles, about 27 percent of the State of Colorado. It is about 250 miles long (east to west) and averages about 150 miles wide (north to south). Kansas and New Mexico and Oklahoma are the eastern and southern boundaries, respectively. The State of Colorado, through the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), requested the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to participate in a cooperative river basin study of the Arkansas River Basin in Colorado by letter on February 8, 1977. The objectives of this study are to identify resources, determine needs, and present alternative solutions to assist decisionmakers in the orderly development of water and related land resources of the area. The major focus of this study is to develop alternative solutions for 3 major concerns: Irrigation Water Management, Water Erosion Control, and Increased Water Yield. In addition, municipal water supply problems are identified for rural communities