The Upper Yampa River Watershed (UYRW) drains approximately 1,798 square miles west of the Continental Divide in northwestern Colorado. The Upper Yampa River Watershed includes the Yampa River Basin upstream from Elkhead Creek and the Elkhead Creek Basin and primarily is in Routt County. The city of Steamboat Springs and the towns of Hayden, Oak Creek, and Yampa are in the watershed. The Yampa River is largely unregulated and free flowing. Only a few smaller water storage facilities are in the headwaters area. Several geothermal hot springs are located in the watershed. Major economic activities include agriculture (cattle production), coal mining, recreation, and tourism. The Steamboat Springs area is an internationally known winter resort destination.
The Upper Yampa River Watershed is undergoing increasing land and water development to support growing municipal, industrial, and recreational needs. As development proceeds, there is the potential for short- and long-term changes in the quantity and quality of surface-water and groundwater resources. Water-quality data currently are stored in disparate formats among numerous Federal, State, and local agencies, private consulting firms, universities, and stakeholder groups. Development of a publically-accessible water-quality database (Data Repository) standardizes and unifies data from the numerous sources. These data can be used to assess water quality in the Upper Yampa River Watershed and develop a water-quality monitoring plan by identifying data gaps and redundancies. With these considerations, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the City of Steamboat Springs and Routt County, is conducting a study to compile and assess water quality in the Upper Yampa River Watershed. Specific objectives of the study were to:
- Develop and maintain a web-accessible common data repository that provides agencies, researchers, consultants, and interested stakeholders equal access to the latest water-resources information.
- Evaluate existing water-resources data for uniformity and ability to meet the needs of water and land resource managers and decision makers as well as the public and other stakeholders.
- Perform and publish an assessment of water-resource conditions.
- Design and implement regional monitoring strategies to effectively fill identified data gaps by reducing duplication of effort while still meeting a broad base of data collection objectives.
- Upon implementation of the monitoring program, periodically assess the new data to update what is known about factors affecting water-resource conditions.
Below are other science projects associated with the Colorado Water-Quality Data Repository.
Eagle River Water-Quality Data
Piceance Basin Water-Quality Data
Upper Gunnison River Water-Quality Data
Southwest Study Area Water-Quality Data
Roaring Fork Watershed Water-Quality Data
Arkansas River Water-Quality Data
Blue River Water-Quality Data
- Overview
The Upper Yampa River Watershed (UYRW) drains approximately 1,798 square miles west of the Continental Divide in northwestern Colorado. The Upper Yampa River Watershed includes the Yampa River Basin upstream from Elkhead Creek and the Elkhead Creek Basin and primarily is in Routt County. The city of Steamboat Springs and the towns of Hayden, Oak Creek, and Yampa are in the watershed. The Yampa River is largely unregulated and free flowing. Only a few smaller water storage facilities are in the headwaters area. Several geothermal hot springs are located in the watershed. Major economic activities include agriculture (cattle production), coal mining, recreation, and tourism. The Steamboat Springs area is an internationally known winter resort destination.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Yampa River at Steamboat Springs The Upper Yampa River Watershed is undergoing increasing land and water development to support growing municipal, industrial, and recreational needs. As development proceeds, there is the potential for short- and long-term changes in the quantity and quality of surface-water and groundwater resources. Water-quality data currently are stored in disparate formats among numerous Federal, State, and local agencies, private consulting firms, universities, and stakeholder groups. Development of a publically-accessible water-quality database (Data Repository) standardizes and unifies data from the numerous sources. These data can be used to assess water quality in the Upper Yampa River Watershed and develop a water-quality monitoring plan by identifying data gaps and redundancies. With these considerations, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the City of Steamboat Springs and Routt County, is conducting a study to compile and assess water quality in the Upper Yampa River Watershed. Specific objectives of the study were to:
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Yampa River valley circa 1919 - Develop and maintain a web-accessible common data repository that provides agencies, researchers, consultants, and interested stakeholders equal access to the latest water-resources information.
- Evaluate existing water-resources data for uniformity and ability to meet the needs of water and land resource managers and decision makers as well as the public and other stakeholders.
- Perform and publish an assessment of water-resource conditions.
- Design and implement regional monitoring strategies to effectively fill identified data gaps by reducing duplication of effort while still meeting a broad base of data collection objectives.
- Upon implementation of the monitoring program, periodically assess the new data to update what is known about factors affecting water-resource conditions.
- Science
Below are other science projects associated with the Colorado Water-Quality Data Repository.
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...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...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...Southwest Study Area Water-Quality Data
In southwest Colorado, drought, wildfires, mining activities, agriculture, and population growth have altered the landscape from its natural condition. These changes have potentially degraded the water-quality of streams, rivers, reservoirs, and groundwater by introducing or increasing levels of metals, nutrients, synthetic organic chemicals, and sediment. Recognizing the need to understand how...Roaring Fork Watershed Water-Quality Data
The Roaring Fork Watershed, located in the Rocky Mountains 150 miles west of Denver, Colorado, has seen rapid development and population growth in recent years. The USGS, in cooperation with Pitkin County, Colorado Water Conservation District, Ruedi Water and Power Authority, and other local entities, conducted a comprehensive surface- and ground-water resource assessment in the Roaring Fork River...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...Blue River Water-Quality Data
The Blue River drains approximately 680 square miles west of the Continental Divide in central Colorado before flowing northward into the Colorado River near Kremmling, Colorado. The Blue River watershed (BRW) is almost entirely located in Summit County and includes the towns of Breckenridge, Dillon, Frisco, Montezuma, and Silverthorne. Dillon Reservoir and Green Mountain Reservoir are major water... - Multimedia
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