watervulnerability

Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest Watershed Vulnerability Assessment, Rocky
Mountain Region (R2)
Figure 11. Instream Flow Water Rights
Other water uses, such as water dependent recreation (fishing, rafting, kayaking), were initially
considered but eventually eliminated from the WVA because they were either limited in their distribution
or were represented by other values (e.g., fishing would occur where cold water fisheries are present).
As with the infrastructure values, above, water use value metrics were designed to compare
subwatersheds in a more relative way. For each individual water use value, the results were standardized
(results for each subwatershed were divided by the largest result of all the subwatersheds). The
standardized results for each water use value were then summed to get a cumulative water use value
(water rights quantification + water rights structure + Surface Source Water Protection Areas + instream
flow water rights = Water Uses Value Ranking). The cumulative Water Uses Value Rankings were
classified into quartiles. The top 25% were classified 3 (high), middle 50% were classified 2 (moderate),
lowest 25% were classified 1 (low). Figure 12 shows the resulting Water Uses Values Ranking.
77 Assessing the Vulnerability of Watersheds to Climate Change