Surface-Water Assessment Taos County, New Mexico
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SURFACE-WATER ASSESSMENT, TAOS COUNTY, NEW MEXICO Peggy Johnson, Project Investigator [email protected] (505) 835-5819 August 1998 New Mexico Bureau of G eology & Mineral Resources A D IVISION OF NEW MEXICO INSTITUTE OF MINING & TECHNOLOGY 801 Leroy Place Socorro, NM 87801-4796 NMBGMR Open-File Report OF-440 Administrative Report to: New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission New Mexico Bureau ofMines and Mineral Resources Tam County Surface Water Assessment TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I . INTRODUCTION ................................................. 1 A . Background .................................................. 1 1. AssessmentRegionalResources Water ......................... 1 2 . Phase I of Surface-WatedGround-Water Assessment1 ............... 3 . Conjunctiveuse ............................................ 1 B . Scope of the Surface-Water Assessment ............................. 2 C . Summary of Data Types and Data Analyses ......................... 2 D . Assessment Areas for Taos County Region .......................... 2 1. RedRiver ................................................. 3 2 . RioPueblodeTaos ......................................... 3 3 . Embudo .................................................. 3 4 Western Plateau Western 4 . ............................................ 3 5 . Relation to USGS Hydrologic Units ............................ 3 I1 . SURFACEWATER SWPLY ........................................ 4 A . Drainage Basins and Watersheds ................................... 4 1. Red River Assessment Area ................................... 5 C ostilla Creek a . Costilla ........................................... 5 b . SunshineValley ......................................... 5 c . Latir Creek and the Cerro/Guadalupe watershed ............... 5 d . RedRiver .............................................. 6 e . Garrapata and San Cristobal Creeks .......................... 6 2 . Rio Pueblo de Taos Assessment Area ............................ 6 a . .............................................. RioHondo 6 b . Rio Pueblo de Taos ....................................... 6 (1) Rio Pueblo de Taos.................................... 7 (2) Rio Lucero .......................................... 7 (3) Rio Fernando de Taos.................................. 7 (4)ArroyoSeco ......................................... 7 (5) Rio Grande del Rancho ................................. 7 3 . Embudo Assessment Area ..................................... 8 a . Pilarwatershed .......................................... 8 b . Embudo Creek ........................................... 8 (1) Rio Pueblo de Picuris .................................. 8 (2) Rio Santa Barbara ..................................... 8 (3) ChamizalCreek ....................................... 8 (4) Rio de las Trampas.................................... 9 4 . Taos Plateau Assessment Area ................................. 9 a . ArroyoPunche .......................................... 9 b . Unnamedtributary ....................................... 9 New Mexico BureauofMines and RIineral Resources Taos County Surface Water Assessment c . Arroyo Aquaje de la Petaca ................................ 9 d. RioOjo Caliente ......................................... 9 B . ClimaticData .................................................. 10 1. Precipitation Data ............................................ 10 a . Geographic andregional variability of precipitation ............. 11 b . Seasonal variability ofprecipitation ......................... 13 c . Long-term variability of precipitation ........................ 13 2 . Evaporation Data ........................................... 14 C . Streamflow Data and Statistics.................................... 15 1. Streamflow Records ......................................... 15 a . Gage station locations .................................... 15 b . Periods of record ......................................... 16 c . Quality of existing streamflow records........................ 16 2 . Annual and Monthly Streamflow Data by Station.................. 16 a . Red River assessment area ................................. 17 b . Rio Pueblo de Taos assessment area ......................... 17 c . Embudo assessment area ................................... 17 3. Summary of Existing Streamflow Data Analyses................... 17 a. Reiland and Haynes (1963) ................................. 17 b . US. Bureau ofReclamation (1971) .......................... 18 c . Reiland(1980) ........................................... 18 d . Waltemeyer (1986) ....................................... 18 e . Heame and Dewey (1988) ................................... 18 f . Waltemeyer (1989) ....................................... 18 g . Waltemeyer (1996) ....................................... 18 D . Surface Water Yields ............................................ 19 1. Annual Surface WaterYields and Variability of Stream Discharge ..... 19 a Average year,Average a . year wetdry year, ............................. 19 b . Historic changes and long-termvariability of streamflow .........20 2 . Seasonal Variability of Stream Discharge......................... 21 a . Red River assessment area ................................. 21 b . Rio Pueblo de Taos assessment area.......................... 22 c . Embudo assessment area ................................... 22 3 . Predictive Relationships for Surface Water Yields.................. 22 4 . RetumFlow................................................ 25 5 . River and StreamLosses and Gains by Reach ..................... 25 a . Rio Grande ............................................. 25 b . RedRiver .............................................. 26 c . Rio Hondo and Rio Pueblo deTaos .......................... 26 6 . FloodFlows ................................................ 26 Historic floods a . Historic ........................................... 26 b Flood frequency analysis frequency Flood b . ................................... 27 E . Uses of Surface Water ........................................... 27 ... 111 New Mexico Bureau ofblines and Mineral Resources Taos County Surface Water Assessment F. Water Supply Facilities .......................................... 28 1. Costilla Reservoir. .......................................... 28 2. CabrestoReservoir .......................................... 29 111. RECOMMENDATIONS AND DATANEEDS .......................... 3 1 IV. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................... 33 V. REFERENCESV. ................................................... 34 APPENDICES A: Climatic Data. B: Streamflow Data and Statistics. C: Statistical Summaries and Methodsof Analysis for Streamflow Data. iv New Mexico Bureau ofhlines and hIineral Resources Taos County Surface Water Assessment LIST OF TABLES Table No. Page Table 1 Basic drainage patterns associatedwith the physiographic regionsof Taos County and their geologic significance .............................. T-1 Table 2 Drainage basins of Taos County. .................................. T-2 Table 3 Acequias in Taos County (4 pages). ................................ T-3 Table 4 Inventory of springs in Taos County (4 pages) ........................ T-7 Table 5 Climatic data recording stations in Taos County, by assessment area. ...... T-I1 Table 6 Average annual precipitationfor NOMprecipitation stations, and April snow water equivalentfor MCS snow survey stationsin and around TaosCounty ................................................... T-12 Table 7 Average monthly and irrigation seasonpan evaporation rates, and mean annual lake evaporation rates forNOAA and USBOR evaporation stations in the Taos region. ....................................... T-13 Table 8 Monthly distribution of shallow reservoir evaporation. ................. T-13 Table 9 Active and discontinued streamgage stations in and near Taos County, summary of streamflow data,and basin characteristics (2 pages). ......... T-14 Table 10 Critical stream gage stationsin and near Taos County, and evaluation of data usability (2 pages) ........................................ T-16 Table 1la Studies relating to streamflowdata from stations in Taos County with more than ten years of record (2 pages) ............................. T-18 Table 1lb Summary of analyses of streamflow data ........................... T-20 Table 12a Annual variability of stream discharge reflectedby mean, median, maximum, and minimumdischarge values and flow durationdata for select Taos County gage stations, by assessment area(2 pages) ........... T-21 Table 12b Annual variability of stream discharge reflected by go", 75*, 25", and 10" percentile discharge values for select Taos Countygage stations, by assessment area(2 pages) ............................... T-23 Table 13 Annual surface water yield for major drainage basins in Taos County by basin and assessment area(all units roundedin ac-fdyr) .............. T-25 Table 14 Seasonal discharge and estimates ofbaseflow for select Taos County gage stations ............................................ T-26 New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Taos County Surface WaterAssessment Table No. Page Table 15 River and stream losses and gainsby reach (all values rounded to nearest 100 ac-Wyr) ............................................. T-27 Table 16 Maximum stream discharges recorded for Taos area gage stations(3 pages) . T-28 Table 17 Regional flood frequency equations for the northern mountain region (Waltemeyer,1996) ............................................