The Story of Colorado Water
The story of water in Colorado starts in the Rocky Mountains . Colorado is known as a headwaters state . This means that all the precipitation that falls in our state flows OUT of the state , and no water flows INTO the state . There are only two states in the United States that are headwaters states . One is Colorado and the other is Hawaii .
Snake diagram showing how water flows in Colorado rivers .
Our state also has many watersheds . Watersheds are sometimes called drainage basins . A watershed is an area of land where rain or snow drains into a stream or other water body . Ridges of higher ground form boundaries between watersheds . Rain falling on one side of the higher ground flows toward the low point of one watershed , while rain falling on the other side of the boundary flows toward the low point of a different watershed .
Snow that falls high in the mountains can sometimes stay frozen for a long time . Nature provides this good way to store our water . When that snow melts , the water then flows downhill towards the rivers and streams .
Colorado has eight major river basins throughout the state . These basins form areas that provide geographical borders for the rivers . The basins are named after the major rivers in each geographical area : Arkansas , Colorado , Gunnison , North Platte ,
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Rio Grande , San Juan and Dolores , South Platte , Yampa and White . A ninth basin is named Denver and is a boundary or “ carve out ” for the Denver metro area because of its population size and substantial water needs .
Water from our state flows to 18 other states and Mexico . It is important to leave water in the rivers for people in other states to use . In fact , Colorado is part of agreements that require us to make sure around 2 / 3 of the water that flows in our rivers crosses state lines to reach downstream states .
Downstream refers to the direction that a river , stream , or any flowing water moves towards . It ’ s the way the water flows from higher areas , like mountains or hills , down to lower areas , like valleys or plains . So , if you imagine yourself standing at one spot in a river and looking ahead , downstream would be the direction the water is flowing , away from you .
The diagram on this page is called the snake diagram . It shows how water flows in Colorado rivers . Each dark blue arrow on the diagram represents a major river . Wider blue