U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Water-Data Report UT-05-1

Water Resources Data, Utah, Water Year 2005

By D.E. Wilberg, J.R. Tibbetts, Michael Enright, C.B. Burden, Cynthia Smith, and C.E. Angeroth

Prepared in cooperation with the State of Utah
and other cooperators and agencies

ONLINE ONLY

INTRODUCTION

Water-resources data for the 2005 water year for Utah consist of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage and contents of lakes and reservoirs; and water levels and water quality of ground water. This report contains discharge records for 165 gaging stations; stage and contents for 8 lakes and reservoirs; water quality for 22 hydrologic stations, and 57 wells; water levels for 65 observation wells; and precipitation for 3 stations. Additional water data were collected at various sites not involved in the systematic data-collection program and are published as miscellaneous measurements. These data represent that part of the National Water Data System collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and cooperating State and Federal agencies in Utah.

During water year 2005 the state of Utah generally experienced above normal precipitation, with some areas receiving near record amounts, which has helped to reduce the effects of an ongoing drought. Four major basins in the state experienced flooding during the year with the most damaging flooding occurring January 9-11, 2005 in the Virgin River Basin. Statistical analysis of U.S. Geological (USGS) streamflow gaging stations indicate that this precipitation event correlated to peak flows with recurrence intervals ranging from about 25 years in the major Virgin River tributaries, to greater than 100 years in the lower Virgin River downstream of Hurricane, Utah. On April 28, 2005, localized precipitation, believed to be a rain-on-snow phenomenon, in southern Cache Valley caused flooding in the Lower Bear River basin. Peak discharge in the Little Bear River for this event exceeds the 100-year recurrence interval. Large peak discharges in spring of 2005 in the Duchesne and Sevier River basins resulted from near record snowpacks. At least 4 USGS streamflow-gaging stations recorded the largest instantaneous peak discharge for their respective period of record in WY 2005.

Hydrologic conditions for Utah can vary greatly across the State because of topography, geology, changing seasonal atmospheric conditions, and changes in climatic conditions from year to year. Mountain ranges and plateaus in many parts of Utah are characterized by steep slopes, sparse vegetation, thin soils, and, in areas such as the Colorado River Basin, large expanses of bedrock and steep-walled canyons. These conditions can lead to rapid runoff and flooding that can occur any time of the year. The large valleys and basins in the western part of Utah have a fairly flat topography and are underlain with alluvial soils composed of clay, silt, sand, and gravel. Average annual precipitation in Utah ranges from about 5 inches in the Great Salt Lake Desert to about 60 inches on some of the State’s highest mountains (Butler and Marsell, 1972).

This report is made up of the following files:

01Preliminary.pdf, Front cover, Contents, List of Stations, Discontinued stations, Hydrologic Conditions, Definitions, Map showing location of U.S. Geological Survey gaging stations in Utah (3.0 mb)

02ColoradoRiver.pdf, Station manuscripts, Colorado River Basin, stations 09180000 to 09183600 (0.3 mb).

03GreenRiver.pdf, Station manuscripts, Green River basin, stations 09217000 to 09328500 (4.3 mb).

04Colorado_blw_confluence.pdf, Station manuscripts, Dirty Devil, Escalante, San Juan, and Paria, 09330000 to 09403600 (0.4 mb).

05VirginRiver.pdf, Station manuscripts, Virgin River basin, 09404450 to 09413900 (0.4 mb).

06GreatSaltLake.pdf, Station manuscripts of Great Salt Lake stations, 10110000 and 10010100 (0.6. mb).

07BearRiver.pdf, Station manuscripts, Bear River Basin, 10011500 to 10126000 (0.4 mb).

08WeberRiver.pdf, Station manuscripts, Weber River Basin, 10128500 to 10143500 (0.3 mb).

09JordanRiver.pdf, Station manuscripts, Jordan River Basin, 10145400 to 10172200 (0.4 mb).

10GreatBasin.pdf, Station manuscripts, Rush Valley, Tooele Valley, Snake Valley, tributaries between Great Salt Lake Desert and Bear River in the Great Basin, 10172700 to 10172952 (0.12 mb).

11SevierLakeBasin.pdf, Sevier Lake Basin including Beaver River basin and Cedar Valley, Iron County, 10173450 to 10242000 (0.3 mb).

12GroundWaterLevles.pdf, Ground water records, Beaver County to Weber County (0.6 mb).

13Misc_records.pdf, Miscellaneous data, Back cover. (0.3 mb).

The files are readable with Adobe Acrobat Reader. The reader is available for free download from Adobe Systems Incorporated. .

CONTENTS

Preface

Report documentation page

List of surface water stations, in downstream order, for which records are published in this volume

List of ground-water wells, by county, for which records are published in this volume

List of discontinued surface-water discharge or stage-only stations

List of discontinued surface-water-quality stations

Introduction

Cooperation

Summary of Hydrologic Conditions

Definition of terms

Downstream order and station number

Numbering system for wells and miscellaneous sites

Special networks and programs

Explanation of stage- and water-discharge records

Data collection and computation

Station manuscript

Peak discharge greater than base discharge

Data table of daily mean values

Statistics of monthly mean data

Summary statistics

Identifying estimated daily discharge

Accuracy of field data and computed results

Other data records available

Explanation of precipitation records

Data collection and computation

Data presentation

Explanation of water-quality records

Collection and examination of data

Water analysis

Surface-water-quality records

Classification of records

Accuracy of the records

Arrangement of records

On-site measurements and sample collection

Water temperature

Sediment

Laboratory measurements

Data presentation

Remarks codes

Water-quality control data

Blank samples

Reference samples

Replicate samples

Spike samples

Explanation of ground-water level records

Site identification numbers

Data collection and computation

Data presentation

Water-level tables

Hydrographs

Ground-water quality data

Data collection and computation

Laboratory measurements

Access to USGS water data

Surface-water records

Ground-water level records

Wells

Miscellaneous data

Send questions or comments about this report to Cory Angeroth at angeroth@usgs.gov, 801.908.5048.

For more information about USGS activities in Utah, visit the USGS Utah District home page.

Maintainer: GS-W-UT_Web_Requests@usgs.gov



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Last modified: Friday, March 31 2006, 08:30:04 AM

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