Scout Wave 2.0

2022 Fall from Mike Harvey: Scout Wave 2.0 – I wanted to clear up some facts around flows on the Arkansas and what we expect as it relates to performance of the Scout Wave. I have been getting a lot of questions and just thought maybe I'd post here so there was one resource.
The gauge to use is the DWR gauge in Salida: https://dwr.state.co.us/Tools/Stations/ARKSALCO...
The Arkansas is the major conduit on the east side of the divide to move west slope water to the front range. Water from the Roaring Fork, Fryingpan and Eagle drainages travels down the Arkansas to Pueblo and John Martin Reservoir. This water is referred to as project water. In general they move project water from 11/15-3/15 and during runoff up to August 15th. The period after runoff ends is called the voluntary flow program where 700 cfs is maintained at the Wellsville gauge (when there is enough project water to do so). The lowest flow they try to maintain at any time of year is 250cfs. All bets are off on a really bad snow year, what I am describing is a typical year. They keep the flows as low as possible between 8/15-11/15 for Brown Trout spawning and again from 3/15 until runoff starts for Rainbow Trout spawning. Winter flows (on a typical year) are very often between 500-600.
The goal of the design was for the wave to perform at the lower end of flows. We don't know exactly what it will do across the range of flows until we see it. So far the higher end (+400cfs) of what we have seen has been better than the lower end (around 300cfs). It's currently 297.
I hope that helps. Glad to see folks out enjoying it and stoked to have met many of you in the past week. 🤙