Publications

Groundwater-quality data from public and private sources for the period 1946 to 2009 were compiled and put into a common data repository for the Piceance Basin. The data repository is available on the web at http://rmgsc.cr.usgs.gov/cwqdr/Piceance/index.shtml. A subset of groundwater-quality data from the repository was compiled, reviewed, and checked for quality assurance for this report. The res

This study evaluates the effect of emission reductions at two coal-fired power plants in northwestern Colorado on a nearby wilderness area. Control equipment was installed at both plants during 1999–2004 to reduce SO2 and NOx emissions. One challenge was separating the effects of local from regional emissions, which also declined during the study period. The long-term datasets examined confirm tha

As a result of continued water-quality concerns in the Arkansas River, including metal contamination from historical mining practices, potential effects associated with storage and movement of water, point- and nonpoint-source contamination, population growth, storm-water flows, and future changes in land and water use, the Arkansas River Basin Regional Resource Planning Group (RRPG) developed a s

In 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments, Colorado Water Conservation Board, Colorado Springs City Engineering, and the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, began a small-scale pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of a computational model of streamflow and suspended-sediment transport for predicting suspende

The Arkansas River is an important municipal water supply and is the primary supply for about 400,000 acres of irrigated land in southeastern Colorado. The suitability of this water for domestic, agricultural, and industrial use is affected by high salinity in parts of the Arkansas River. There is a need to quantify mass loading of dissolved solids (DS) in the Arkansas River. In 2009, the U.S. Geo

Anthropogenic inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus to each county in the conterminous United States and to the watersheds of 495 surface-water sites studied as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program were quantified for the years 1992, 1997, and 2002. Estimates of inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus from biological fixation by crops (for nitrogen only), human consum

A current pine beetle infestation has caused extensive mortality of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) in forests of Colorado and Wyoming; it is part of an unprecedented multispecies beetle outbreak extending from Mexico to Canada. In United States and European watersheds, where atmospheric deposition of inorganic N is moderate to low (<10 kg⋅ha⋅y), disturbance of forests by timber harvest or violent

The Colorado River Basin provides habitat for 14 native fish, including 4 endangered species protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act of 1973. These endangered fish species once thrived in the Colorado River system, but water-resource development, including the building of numerous diversion dams and several large reservoirs, and the introduction of non-native fish, resulted in large red

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

In 2007, a 1.5-year field-scale study was initiated by the U.S. Geological Survey to evaluate the dissipation of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) following a first agronomic biosolids application to nonirrigated farmland. CECs with the greatest decrease in concentration in the surface biosolids at 180 days post-application included indole, d-limonene, p-cresol, phenol, and skatol. CECs that

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a 5-year study in 2003 that focused on postfire stream-water quality and postfire sediment load in streams within the Hayman and Hinman fire study areas. This report compares water quality of selected streams receiving runoff from unburned areas and burned areas using concentrations and loads, and trend analysis, from seasonal data (approximately April–Novem