Publications

This report summarizes historical water-quality data for six National Park units that compose the Rocky Mountain Network. The park units in Colorado are Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, and Rocky Mountain National Park; and in Montana, they are Glacier National Park, Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, and Little Bighorn Battlefield Natio

This study of the Transport of Anthropogenic and Natural Contaminants to public-supply wells (TANC study) is being conducted as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program and was designed to increase understanding of the most important factors to consider in ground-water vulnerability assessments. The seven TANC studies that began in 2001 used retrospectiv

The U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program performed a regional study in the Southwestern United States (Southwest) to describe the status and trends of dissolved solids in basin-fill aquifers and streams and to determine the natural and human factors that affect dissolved solids. Basin-fill aquifers, which include the Rio Grande aquifer system, Basin and Range basin-fill

During 2002-2004, the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program conducted a study to determine the effects of urbanization on stream water quality and aquatic communities in six environmentally heterogeneous areas of the conterminous United States--Atlanta, Georgia; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Milwaukee-Green Bay, Wisconsin; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Denver, Colorado;

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Colorado Springs Utilities, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and the El Paso County Water Authority, began a study in 2004 with the following objectives: (1) Apply a stream-aquifer model to Monument Creek, (2) use the results of the modeling to develop a transit-loss accounting program for Monument Creek, (3) revise an existing accounting progr

Results of chemical and some isotopic analyses of soil, shale, and water extracts collected from the surface, trenches, and pits in the Mancos Shale are presented in this report. Most data are for sites on the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area (GGNCA) in southwestern Colorado. For comparison, data from a few sites from the Mancos landscape near Hanksville, Utah, are included. Twelve trench

The U.S. Geological Survey conducted a number of studies from 2001 through 2006 to investigate and document the occurrence, fate, and transport of glyphosate, its degradation product, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), and glufosinate in 2,135 ground- and surface-water samples, 14 rainfall samples, and 193 soil samples. Analytical methods were developed to detect and measure glyphosate, AMPA, and

Streamwater and solid samples (rock, unconsolidated sediment, stream sediment, and efflorescent material) in the Toll Gate Creek watershed, Colorado, were collected and analyzed for major and trace elements to determine trace-element concentrations and stream loads from December 2003 through March 2004, a period of seasonally low flow. Special emphasis was given to selenium (Se) concentrations bec

In 1998, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Colorado Springs City Engineering, began a study of the Fountain and Monument Creek watersheds to characterize water quality and suspended-sediment conditions in the watershed for different flow regimes, with an emphasis on characterizing water quality during storm runoff. Water-quality and suspended-sediment samples were collected in the Fo

In 2005, the U.S. Geological Survey and the City of Longmont, Colo., began a study to document chemical characteristics of St. Vrain Creek that had previously been unavailable either due to high cost of analysis or lack of analytical capability. Stream samples were collected at seven sites on St. Vrain Creek during the spring of 2005 and 2006 for analysis of wastewater compounds. A Lagrangian-samp

During 2002, Colorado experienced the State's worst drought since 1977. In 2003, the U.S. Geological Survey entered into cooperative agreement with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to evaluate the general effects of drought on the water quality of streams in Colorado during summer 2002 by analyzing a water-quality data set obtained during summer 2002 in cooperation with a v

A reconnaissance investigation of selenium and total mercury in fish in Wolford Mountain Reservoir, Colorado, was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in June 2005, in cooperation with the Colorado River Water Conservation District. A total of 32 game and nongame fish were collected from three sites in the reservoir for analysis of selenium and total mercury. Five species of fish were sampled: