Changes in streamflow timing in the western United States in recent decades

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Title Changes in streamflow timing in the western United States in recent decades
Subject Runoff; Water levels; Rivers
Description Mountain snow fields act as natural reservoirs for many western water-supply systems, storing precipitation from the cool season, when most precipitation falls and forms snowpacks, until the warm season when most or all snow-packs melt and release water into rivers. As much as 75 percent of water supplies in the western United States are derived from snowmelt. Thus, water-resource management of western rivers commonly is planned around the knowledge that much of the runoff to reservoirs and lowlands occurs during the early parts of the warm season, when water demands for irrigation and other uses are at their greatest. During the cool season, water demands are low and, in West Coast states, the potential is high for winter storms to cause disastrous floods. Separation in time between the cool-season risks of flooding and the warm-season benefits of snowmelt runoff is a fundamental assumption of water-resource management strategies in the West.
Creator United States Geological Survey
Publisher United States Geological Survey
Date 2005-03
Type Text
Format application/pdf
Language eng
ARK ark:/87278/s6474chz
Setname uu_wwu
ID 1158981
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6474chz
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