Surface Water

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Transportation, determined the peak discharge, annual exceedance probability (flood frequency), and peak stage of two floods that took place on Big Cottonwood Creek at U.S. Highway 50 near Coaldale, Colorado (hereafter referred to as “Big Cottonwood Creek site”), on August 23, 2016, and on Fountain Creek below U.S...

The primary objective of the project is to evaluate and update previous regression equations, developed for the USGS streamgages and continuous water-quality records, that describe the relation between specific conductance measured in the Dolores River and calculated total dissolved solids TDS. A secondary objective is to evaluate brine discharge to the river using a previously developed...

Since 1986, the USGS Hard-Rock Mining Toxic-Substances Hydrology Project has focused on metal transport in streams affected by mining. Tracer-injection studies in St. Kevin Gulch, near Leadville, Colorado, helped the USGS design methods to characterize loading from mining activities on a watershed scale. Tracer-injection studies were done in 1995, in support of the planning needs of ederal Land...

Since the 1980s, a transit-loss accounting program has been used for daily accounting of native and transmountain water by the Colorado Division of Water Resources (CDWR) to determine transit losses and water allocations along Fountain Creek and Monument Creek, Colorado. The Colorado Water Science Center has been involved in developing, modifying, and supporting the program over the course of its...

The Fountain Creek watershed, Colorado, is characterized by steep channel slopes and varied land use. Spatially distributed precipitation events result in varying rates of direct runoff. These dynamics contribute to large streamflows and sediment transport, which has caused periodic flooding, and sediment aggradation and deposition in Fountain Creek and its tributary streams. The U.S. Geological...

In 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), studied floods in the historic record to produce a library of flood-inundation maps for the South Platte River at Fort Morgan, Colorado.

Small, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) or drones can be used to monitor extreme flows in basins that (1) respond quickly to precipitation events, (2) are not gaged, (3) are located in terrain that restricts access and equipment deployments, and (4) are altered by events such as wildfires.

Illinois Gulch, near Breckenridge, Colorado, is on the State of Colorado 303(d) list of impaired waters because of elevated concentrations of cadmium and zinc. Cadmium and zinc concentrations exceed chronic aquatic life standards in the upper portion of Illinois Gulch, and pH is circumneutral.

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...

The objective of this project is to update the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s (UMUT) existing Groundwater Protection Plan to protect their valuable groundwater resources in Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico.

To better characterize the water supply capacity of Clear Creek Reservoir, Chaffee County, Colorado, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Pueblo Board of Water Works and Colorado Mountain College, carried out a bathymetry survey of Clear Creek Reservoir. The equipment and methods used in this study allowed water-resource managers to maintain typical reservoir operations, eliminating...

Monument and Fountain Creeks and their respective watersheds, located in the Front Range of Colorado, serve as important drainages for surface runoff, waste-water treatment operations, and as a water supply for downstream agricultural needs. As population growth continues in these watersheds, more and more pressures are being applied to the receiving streams, especially Fountain Creek.