OCR Text |
Show Currant Creek Currant Creek Dam and Reservoir would intercept and regulate Strawberry Aqueduct flows and the flows of Currant Creek and five of its tributaries which otherwise would require diversion facilities. Except for spills and small bypasses to downstream rights, flows of Currant Creek at the reservoir would be diverted to the aqueduct. The proposed annual diversion has been estimated to be 15,800 acre- feet, with an estimated 200 acre- feet bypassed to prior rights and 400 acre- feet spilled during high runoff periods. Spills from Currant Creek Reservoir would occur only during years with extremely high runoff. Construction and operation of the dam and reservoir would substantially reduce the spring runoff flows and would virtually eliminate the winter flows of Currant Creek immediately below the dam, leaving an estimated flow of 2 c. f. s. at the U. S. G. S. Gaging Station No, 9- 2870 located 0.7 mile downstream. This gaging station was discontinued in 1968. The 2- c. f. s. is a Bureau of Reclamation estimate of the combined seepage from the reservoir, flow from a small spring that emerges from the hillside below the damsite, and tributary inflow from Red- ledge Hollow. On the basis of altitude- area- runoff studies the flow at the damsite was estimated to be 97.4 percent of the modified flows at the U. S. G. S. Gaging Station No. 9- 2870. Modified flows are defined as the historical flows corrected for the entire period of record to reflect the effects of diversions upstream from the gage. During drought years of low water supply, the stream flows would be bypassed during the suimer months for irrigation downstream. Table C- 12 shows historical flows, without the Unit, at the location of Currant Creek Damsite and the estimated flows immediately below the dam with Unit conditions. Winter flows with the Unit would be about 25 percent of the average historical minimum flows. Flows for the remaining portion of the year would be reduced to about 10 percent of average historical conditions. The 13- mile reach of the stream between Currant Creek Damsite and U. S. Highway 40 has 10 to 20 c. f. s. stream gain from the 75- square- mile |