GAINS AND LOSSES OF COMMINGLED WATERS IN A STREAM.

In a legal dispute in the State of Washington (Colville Confederated Tribes vs. Boyd Walton, Jr. , Farmer), it became necessary to determine the proportion of transmission losses sustained by developed water that was commingled with native water in a natural stream channel. Ground-water pumping and irrigation adjacent to the stream resulted in both gains and losses to flow along the study reach. The identification of the native and developed waters was accomplished by a detailed study of the reach that combined current-meter measurements with an analysis of the dilution of an injected brine.