No matter the season, we are out monitoring Colorado waters.
In winter...
In winter...
No matter the season, we are out monitoring Colorado waters.
In spring...
In spring...
No matter the season, we are out monitoring Colorado waters.
In summer...
In summer...
No matter the season, we are out monitoring Colorado waters.
and in the fall.
and in the fall.
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.
NOTICE: USGS is improving the way that sample data are stored and served to the public.
Current Conditions
Current Conditions
Explore real-time Colorado streamflow, groundwater, and water-quality conditions.
Science Highlight
Science Highlight
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.
News
Media Alert: USGS Dye Tracing Study in Fraser River
Media Alert: USGS Dye Tracing Study in Fraser River
Media Alert: USGS Dye-Tracing Study in Lake Fork Creek to Map Groundwater Flow
Media Alert: USGS Dye-Tracing Study in Lake Fork Creek to Map Groundwater Flow
Art Illuminates the Grand Canyon: Exploring the Environmental Puzzle
Art Illuminates the Grand Canyon: Exploring the Environmental Puzzle
Publications
Hydroclimate projections and effects on runoff at National Wildlife Refuges in the semi-arid western U.S.
This study evaluated hydroclimate projections and effects on runoff at National Wildlife Refuges in a semiarid region of the western United States (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 6) using mean air temperature (TAVE) and precipitation (PPT) inputs and runoff (RO) output from a national application of a Monthly Water Balance Model (MWBM). An ensemble of statistically downscaled...
Reservoir thermal energy storage pre-assessment for the United States
Storing thermal energy underground for later use in electricity production or direct-use heating/cooling is a promising, viable, and economical green energy option. Reservoir thermal energy storage (RTES) is one such option, which stores energy in underutilized permeable strata with low ambient groundwater flow rates and more geochemically evolved (e.g. brackish/saline) waters relative...
Concentration-discharge relations and transient metal loads reveal spatiotemporal variability in solute-generation mechanisms in a mine-affected watershed
Concentration-discharge (CQ) relations are commonly used to understand geochemical and hydrologic controls on the generation of solutes in watersheds. Despite the widespread application of CQ relations, this technique has been infrequently applied to acid mine drainage (AMD) sites, but the CQ framework may allow mechanistic understanding of remedial outcomes such as impoundment of water...
Science
Colorado River Headwaters, Water Isotope Network
Water availability is controlled by processes that can be hard to measure, like the process of groundwater discharging from a streambed that becomes streamflow. Naturally occurring, radioactive and stable (non-radioactive) isotopes can help trace those processes, particularly the isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen that are part of the water molecule. Tritium, the radioactive isotope of hydrogen, has...
Biologically Active Chemical Research Core Technology Team
About the Research. The Biologically Active Chemicals Research Core Technology Team (CTT) as part of the Environmental Health Program conducts field and laboratory research on the occurrence, fate, and effects of complex mixtures of biologically active organic and inorganic chemicals in aquatic environments.
Isotopic and environmental tracers for improved understanding of geochemical and hydrologic processes occurring near flooded mine workings
Draining mine tunnels contribute metals and acidity to streams throughout the western United States. One remediation strategy that is increasing in usage is the emplacement of hydraulic bulkheads to impound water within the subsurface. Potential secondary effects of bulkhead usage are difficult to quantify however because of the inherent complexity of many mountain hydrologic systems. In...