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
Characterizing water-quality response after the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire using a novel application of the Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season method Characterizing water-quality response after the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire using a novel application of the Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season method
The frequency and severity of wildfire activity in the western United States emphasises the utility of hydrologic models to predict water-quality response. This study presents a novel application of the Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge and Season (WRTDS) method to assess potential changes in water quality in two watersheds draining the North Fork Big Thompson River and Buckhorn...
"Snow to Flow" postcard "Snow to Flow" postcard
The U.S. Geological Survey has ongoing snowpack monitoring initiatives to help improve water availability estimates and predictions of streamflow.
Mobile radar provides insights into hydrologic responses in burn areas Mobile radar provides insights into hydrologic responses in burn areas
BackgroundWildfires often occur in mountainous terrain, regions that pose substantial challenges to operational meteorological and hydrologic observing networks.AimsA mobile, post-fire hydrometeorological observatory comprising remote-sensing and in situ instrumentation was developed and deployed in a burnt area to provide unique insights into rainfall-induced post-fire hazards...
Science
Agricultural Return Flows in the Upper Gunnison River Basin
Canals and ditches divert water from streams in the Upper Gunnison River Basin, Colorado, to irrigate agricultural fields. In some areas, irrigation water that percolates below the root zone can locally recharge groundwater and later return to streams through the subsurface, which can extend streamflow outside of the snowmelt runoff season. Understanding the timing and quantity of agricultural...
Camera Installations Collecting Hydrologic Imagery at USGS Monitoring Locations in Colorado
The Colorado Water Science Center Network Integration and Science Innovation team has focused on installing cameras at U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) monitoring locations for situational and observational awareness of conditions at streams, rivers, and lakes in Colorado. Several USGS monitoring locations have been configured with cellular modems and network cameras to obtain still and video imagery...
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...