Surface Water
Surface Water
Science related to surface water.
Filter Total Items: 70
Biosolids, soils, crops, ground water, and streambed sediments in the vicinity of a biosolids-application area near Deer Trail, Colorado
The Metro Wastewater Reclamation District (Metro District) applies biosolids throughout their properties (the MetroGro Farm) near Deer Trail, Colorado. These biosolids applications could affect the quality of water in alluvial and bedrock aquifers, streambed sediment, soil, dust, and crops. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a monitoring program to address concerns from a stakeholder group...
Bathymetry of Groundhog and Totten Reservoirs
In order to better characterize the water supply capacity of Groundhog Reservoir, Dolores County, Colorado, and Totten Reservoir, Montezuma County, Colorado, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Dolores Water Conservancy District, conducted a bathymetric survey of Groundhog and Totten Reservoir. The study was performed in June 2011 using a man-operated boat-mounted multibeam echo...
Flood Database for Colorado
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Transportation, created a Web-based geodatabase for information on floods from 1867 through water year 2015 and information on paleofloods occurring in the past 5,000 to 10,000 years. The geodatabase was created using Environmental Systems Research Institute ArcGIS JavaScript Application Programing Interface. Engineers...
One-Dimensional Transport with Equilibrium Chemistry (OTEQ): A Reactive Transport Model for Streams and Rivers
OTEQ is a mathematical simulation model used to characterize the fate and transport of waterborne solutes in streams and rivers. The model is formed by coupling a solute transport model with a chemical equilibrium submodel. The solute transport model is based on OTIS, a model that considers the physical processes of advection, dispersion, lateral inflow, and transient storage. The equilibrium...
Eagle River Water-Quality Data
The Eagle River drains approximately 970 square miles (sq mi) west of the Continental Divide in central Colorado before flowing into the Colorado River. The Eagle River watershed (ERW) is located primarily within Eagle County and includes the towns of Vail, Minturn, Avon, Edwards, Eagle, and Gypsum. The eastern boundary of the Eagle River watershed is drained by Gore Creek, located at Vail Pass...
Development of a fecal contamination monitoring and control strategy in upper Fountain Creek, Colorado
Fountain Creek is a high-gradient stream on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The headwaters of Fountain Creek drain Pikes Peak, a major destination for tourism. Fountain Creek is a drinking-water source for the City of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is used for irrigation, recreation, and other purposes between Colorado Springs and the confluence with the Arkansas River at...
Piceance Basin Water-Quality Data
As large-scale energy development continues in the Piceance Basin, there is potential for changes in surface-water and groundwater resources. In the southern Piceance Basin, a water task force consisting of numerous local governments, municipalities, and energy companies collectively identified the need for a common data repository. In the northern Piceance Basin, similar efforts were underway in...
NAWQA High Plains Regional Groundwater Study
As part of the National Water Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA), the USGS has evaluated ground-water quality in the High Plains aquifer system. Beginning in 1999 and continuing for a period of 6 years, the High Plains Regional Groundwater Study intensively investigated the quality of groundwater resources within the study area. Water quality impairment coupled with water-level declines focus...
Loutzenhizer Arroyo Water Quality Monitoring activities in the Lower Gunnison Basin
Emerging water-quality issues within Delta, Montrose, and Mesa counties reflect changing land use practices, housing development and related pressures due to growth. Significant amounts of data have been collected by members of the Gunnison Basin Selenium Task Force as it relates to selenium related water-quality problems. Soils within a large portion of the lower Gunnison Basin are derived from...
Characterization of Selenium Sources in the Lower Gunnison River Basin
High concentrations of dissolved selenium have been detected in the lower Gunnison River basin including the Uncompahgre River basin. Butler and others (1991 and 1996) identified the highest concentrations of selenium in surface waters in areas that are irrigated on soils derived from Mancos Shale. In July 1997, the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission amended the classifications and numeric...
Upper Gunnison River Water-Quality Data
The Upper Gunnison River Watershed, located in the Rocky Mountains 150 miles southwest of Denver, Colorado, drains approximately 3,965 square miles. Forest and rangeland comprise 89 percent of land within the watershed, but the traditional western ranching economy is increasingly supplemented through a tourism economy centered around Crested Butte Mountain Resort and the Curecanti National...
Upper Arkansas Toxic-Substances Hydrology
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...