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2 Water-Quality Characteristics and Ground-Water Quantity of the Fraser River Watershed, Grand County, Colorado, 1998-2001 <br />Introduction <br />Many small towns and rural areas in the Western United <br />States had substantial population growth and related land-use <br />changes during the last 2 decades of the 20th century and the <br />beginning of the 21 st century. Outdoor recreation and tourism, <br />second-home development, and proximity to resort and moun- <br />tain areas have been major factors affecting growth and the <br />steady urban development of rangeland, forests, and agricul- <br />tural lands. Many of the communities affected by population <br />growth and urban development are in rural areas where little or <br /> EXPLANATION <br /> Wastewater-treatment facilities 3952'30" <br />El Arapaho National Forest <br /> U.S. Highway 40 <br />1Q Ground-water sampling <br />3 <br />Ak site with site number <br />Ground-water sampling <br /> site in an individual septic <br />12 disposal system area <br />Q Surface-water sampling site <br />Bi- nwdilwd Inn.. U.S. Geological Survey <br />Cotu Iv n,ap -- 1:50,000, 1978 <br />Grand ( iy ,heels 2 and 4 <br />no information is available on the quality of ground water or <br />surface water. <br />One area in Colorado that has seen population growth and <br />increased urban development is the Fraser River watershed in <br />Grand County (fig. 1), where population increased by more than <br />56 percent in the 1990's (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002). Located <br />in north-central Colorado, the Fraser River watershed encom- <br />passes about 302 mil (square miles) and contains the towns of <br />Winter Park, Fraser, Tabernash, and Granby. Two ski areas are <br />within the watershed, along with sites for many year-round <br />recreational and tourism-based activities. The effect of the rapid <br />development of the watershed on the quality of the local water <br />resources largely is unknown. Except for some tributaries and <br />Vasquez <br />WaterTunnel <br />Q 0 <br />10545' <br />I <br />J <br />l <br />6 MILES <br />0 2 4 6 KILOMETERS <br />Figure 1. Location of ground- and surface-water sample-collection sites in the Fraser River watershed <br />(Arapaho National Forest boundary from Colorado Department of Transportation, 1998).