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Due to the increased rainfall upstream of Trinidad Dam, May 8-11, 2017, there was a large inflow of water into Trinidad Reservoir.
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We (USACE, Albuquerque District) increased releases from the dam at the request of and with the coordination of the state of Colorado, which makes the release decisions for the dam.
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The state of Colorado (and thereby the Albuquerque District) are required by law (state of Colorado and Arkansas River Compact requirements) to pass excess flood water through the dam.
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High-flow water releases were completed May 15, 2017.
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Current releases are approximately 400 cubic feet per second (cfs).
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The outflow releases match what’s coming into the reservoir.
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For reference, the water in one cubic foot per second is roughly equivalent to the volume of a basketball, so we are releasing about 400 basketballs of water from Trinidad Dam each second.