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Colorado Water Science Center

Welcome to the USGS Colorado Water Science Center!  Please use these pages to explore the hydrologic data and scientific investigations we conduct on Colorado water resources.

Current Water Conditions

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Explore real-time Colorado streamflow, groundwater, and water-quality conditions.

Current Conditions

Science Highlight

The Colorado River near Grand Junction, Colorado. 

Next Generation Water Observing System: Upper Colorado River Basin
The Next Generation Water Observing System provides high-fidelity, real-time data on water quantity, quality, and use to support modern water prediction and decision-support systems that are necessary for informing water operations on a daily basis and decision-making during water emergencies.

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Quick Links

News

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Media Alert: Helicopter Will Survey Portions of the Colorado River Basin for Water Studies

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April Showers may Bring May Flowers, but Winter Snow is Water in the Bank

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Bakken Shale unconventional oil and gas production has not caused widespread hydrocarbon contamination to date in groundwater used for water supply

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Publications

Characterization of and relations among precipitation, streamflow, suspended-sediment, and water-quality data at the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Carson and Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, Colorado, water years 2016–18

Frequent and prolonged military training maneuvers are an intensive type of land use that may disturb land cover, compact soils, and have lasting effects on adjacent stream hydrology and ecosystems. To better understand the potential effect of military training on hydrologic and environmental processes, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Army established hydrologic and water-q
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Water Resources, Colorado Water Science Center

Laboratory simulation of groundwater along uranium-mining-affected flow paths near the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA

Mining of volumetrically small, but relatively enriched (average 0.6% U3O8) breccia pipe uranium (BPU) deposits near the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA has the potential to affect groundwater and springs in the area. Such deposits also contain base metal sulfides that can oxidize to generate acid mine drainage and release trace metals. In this study, sequential batch experiments were conducted to simu
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Water Resources, Colorado Water Science Center

The applicability of time-integrated unit stream power for estimating bridge pier scour using noncontact methods in a gravel-bed river

In near-field remote sensing, noncontact methods (radars) that measure stage and surface water velocity have the potential to supplement traditional bridge scour monitoring tools because they are safer to access and are less likely to be damaged compared with in-stream sensors. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of radars for monitoring the hydraulic conditions that contribute to
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Water Resources, Arizona Water Science Center, Colorado Water Science Center
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Science

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Upper Black Squirrel Creek Water Level Monitoring Network

The Upper Black Squirrel Creek Designated Ground Water Basin in eastern El Paso County, Colorado, relies heavily on groundwater from the Denver Basin aquifer system and an alluvial aquifer completed in Quaternary-age deposits for water supply. Population growth in the basin has placed increasing demands on groundwater resources, and future groundwater withdrawals are expected to increase as the...
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Colorado Water Science Center
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Upper Black Squirrel Creek Water Level Monitoring Network

The Upper Black Squirrel Creek Designated Ground Water Basin in eastern El Paso County, Colorado, relies heavily on groundwater from the Denver Basin aquifer system and an alluvial aquifer completed in Quaternary-age deposits for water supply. Population growth in the basin has placed increasing demands on groundwater resources, and future groundwater withdrawals are expected to increase as the...
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Upper Black Squirrel Creek Long-term Groundwater Quality Study

The alluvial aquifer of the upper Black Squirrel Creek Basin, about 15 miles east of Colorado Springs, supplies most of the water for irrigation and domestic use in the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Designated Ground Water Basin (UBSCDGWB) and, since 1964, supplies water for export to the Colorado Springs area. Substantial residential growth in the UBSCDGWB, which utilizes both domestic septic...
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Colorado Water Science Center
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Upper Black Squirrel Creek Long-term Groundwater Quality Study

The alluvial aquifer of the upper Black Squirrel Creek Basin, about 15 miles east of Colorado Springs, supplies most of the water for irrigation and domestic use in the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Designated Ground Water Basin (UBSCDGWB) and, since 1964, supplies water for export to the Colorado Springs area. Substantial residential growth in the UBSCDGWB, which utilizes both domestic septic...
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Snowpit Loch Vale Watershed in Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain Regional Snowpack Chemistry Monitoring Study

Snowpacks collect atmospheric deposition throughout the snowfall season and offer a unique opportunity to obtain a composite sample of the chemistry of most of the annual precipitation at high elevations [> 1,800 meters]. The purpose of the snowpack network is to determine annual concentrations and depositional amounts of selected nutrients and other constituents in snow resulting from atmospheric...
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Colorado Water Science Center
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Rocky Mountain Regional Snowpack Chemistry Monitoring Study

Snowpacks collect atmospheric deposition throughout the snowfall season and offer a unique opportunity to obtain a composite sample of the chemistry of most of the annual precipitation at high elevations [> 1,800 meters]. The purpose of the snowpack network is to determine annual concentrations and depositional amounts of selected nutrients and other constituents in snow resulting from atmospheric...
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