Comprehensive Water-Quality Study for the Arkansas River Basin, Colorado Active
Changes in land and water use associated with population growth and agricultural practices within the Arkansas River Basin are likely to affect water-quality on a local and, possibly, a basin-wide scale. To manage the limited water resources in the basin most effectively it is important to understand the processes that affect water quality within the basin and how future changes in land and water use may affect these processes.
Presently there is no basin-wide decision support system model in place to allow water managers to evaluate the affects of future changes in land and water use on water quality. This study will begin to lay the framework for a basin-wide decision support system model by summarizing existing water-quality data and identifying priority water-quality issues, gaps in existing data, and data and analytical tools needed to address priority water-quality issues.
Evaluate hydrogeologic processes including effects of stream-aquifer interaction on elevated constituent loadings in surface water, particularly for selenium and uranium and focused on the Fountain Creek Valley from Pinon, Colorado, to the confluence of Fountain Creek with the Arkansas River at Pueblo, Colorado.
Objectives
- Determine critical stream reaches where stream-aquifer interactions have a pronounced effect on water quality, and
- determine the source areas for selected constituents.
- For critical reaches, determine the dominant processes affecting selected constituents.
- develop methods and tools to quantitatively simulate the effects that changes in water uses/operations and land uses may have on water quality, and
- utilize the knowledge gained by these efforts to help resource managers identify solutions to improve water quality and minimize/mitigate potential adverse impacts that could result from changes in land- and water-use/operation.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Arkansas Water-Quality Data Program
Identifying Changes in Background Water-Quality Conditions, Arkansas River and Fountain Creek, Colorado
Arkansas River Water-Quality Data
- Overview
Changes in land and water use associated with population growth and agricultural practices within the Arkansas River Basin are likely to affect water-quality on a local and, possibly, a basin-wide scale. To manage the limited water resources in the basin most effectively it is important to understand the processes that affect water quality within the basin and how future changes in land and water use may affect these processes.
Presently there is no basin-wide decision support system model in place to allow water managers to evaluate the affects of future changes in land and water use on water quality. This study will begin to lay the framework for a basin-wide decision support system model by summarizing existing water-quality data and identifying priority water-quality issues, gaps in existing data, and data and analytical tools needed to address priority water-quality issues.
Evaluate hydrogeologic processes including effects of stream-aquifer interaction on elevated constituent loadings in surface water, particularly for selenium and uranium and focused on the Fountain Creek Valley from Pinon, Colorado, to the confluence of Fountain Creek with the Arkansas River at Pueblo, Colorado.
Objectives
- Determine critical stream reaches where stream-aquifer interactions have a pronounced effect on water quality, and
- determine the source areas for selected constituents.
- For critical reaches, determine the dominant processes affecting selected constituents.
- develop methods and tools to quantitatively simulate the effects that changes in water uses/operations and land uses may have on water quality, and
- utilize the knowledge gained by these efforts to help resource managers identify solutions to improve water quality and minimize/mitigate potential adverse impacts that could result from changes in land- and water-use/operation.
- Science
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Arkansas Water-Quality Data Program
Short Title: QW Data Program Project Chief: Dwight Lasker Cooperators: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Little Rock District, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, Arkansas Geological Survey, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Central Arkansas Water, Hot Springs Village Project Time Frame: 1962...Identifying Changes in Background Water-Quality Conditions, Arkansas River and Fountain Creek, Colorado
Demands for water are projected to increase in the Lower Arkansas River Basin as the population continues to grow. Strategies to meet those demands include continued operation of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project water, enlargement of Pueblo and Turquoise Reservoirs, and various conservation measures; the overall strategy is defined in the Preferred Storage Options Plan (PSOP: see the Southeastern...Arkansas River Water-Quality Data
The Arkansas River Basin drains an area of 24,904 square miles of southeastern Colorado. Like other basins on the Front Range, the Arkansas Basin has experienced growth and is expected to have significant increases in growth in the future. Demands on the limited water resources also will increase as changes in water storage, water releases, and/or transfer of waters within or outside of the basin... - Publications
- Partners