PUB00093

• Year: 2004
• Title: State of Colorado's Watersheds Report
• CWCB Section: Administration
• Author: Colorado Watershed Assembly
• Description: An Annual Report
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

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SANJUAN
CITIZENS
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A Blooming Concern
In the fall of 2002, the San Juan
Citizens Alliance joined a meeting of
folks conccmcd about the appearance
of ropes of bright green algae in the
Animas River below Durango. At the
meeting were representatives of the
Colorado Division of Wildlife, the
State of New Mexico Surface \Vater
Quality Bureau, the Southern Ute
Indian Tribe, the Ute Mountain Ute
Tribe, the Animas River Stakeholder
Group, the San Juan Watershed Group,
and the Bureau of Reclamation.
The group is concerned about
the algal bloom and wonders what
might have caused its occurrence.
All of the agencies and govemments
represented have a stake in the Animas
and were concerned that there was no
coordinated sampling of the river for
nutrients and that there had been no
effort to identify sources of nutrient
loading.

Identifying Causes
The assembled group decided
that there were enough unanswered
questions to cause them to look further
into what was happening in the river.
The San Juan Citizens Alliance took
on the task of coordinating the effort.
Over the next few months, the cities
of Farmington, New Mexico and
Durango, Colorado joined. The group
was now informally the Animas
NlIIrients Working Group. Chairman
Howard Richards of the Southern
Ute Indian Triqe wrote a letter of
support, as did the City of Durango,

JI

and Flora Vista Water Users. The
Tribe, the Citizens Alliance, and the
Animas River Stakeholders presented
to the South"..'est Water Conservation
District and received 55,000 to pay for
technical assistance and for lab work.
Chester Anderson of BUGS
consulting headed up the effort to
design protocols, and Lucia Machado
of the Colorado Water Quality Control
Division offered her support. Seva
Joseph of the New Mexico Surface
Water Quality Division made their
nutrients protocols available and
managed to coordinate their sampling
with the efforts in Colorado.
The sampling was a low flow
synoptic sample of the Animas River
from Bakers Bridge near Hermosa.
Colorado to its confluence with the San
Juan River in New Mexico. Protocols
included those of New Mexico. which
has narrative nutrient standards: those
developed by Anderson for this effort;
and some that Machado wanted to
try as a part of her work to develop
standards in Colorado. \Ve sampled
16 sites on the Animas, as well as
2 reference sites on the Piedra and 2 on
the San Juan.

Data Management
Among the indicators used were
macroinvertebrates, periphyton
biomass, nitrogen, and phosphorous.
Site characterizations were done at

This year, we will
sample upriver to
Silverton and have a
new website hosted
by the State of New
Mexico.

all sites. The data were entered into a
common database along with historic
data, Twelve volunteers worked
for three days to sample the sites.
Anderson, the Southern Utes, the
Colorado Division of Wildlife, and
the State of New Mexico donated lab
work.

Looking Ahead
\Vhile our results were too
preliminary to do more than establish
a baseline, our cooperative etTort \Vas
very rewarding. In 2004, we will again
be sampling in the fall at low flO\\'. New
Mexico has listed the lowest segment
of the Animas for nutrients as a result
of their sampling over the last couple
of years. All of the entities that were
involved in last year's effort are back.
The Bureau of Reclamation has joined
us and we will have five financial
contributors instead of one.
\Ve are refining protocols and lab
procedures. This year, we will sample
upriver to Silverton and have a new
website hosted by the state of New
Mexico. Our first year's data and a lot
of historical information will be on a
website in a few months. This is the
first time that all four state and tribal
governments that have water quality
standards for the Animas or interests
in its waters have cooperated in a
sampling effort. It is probably one of
a very few instances where Colorado
has coordinated with another state on
a basinwide sampling effort.
I lope fully the lessons in coopenltion
that we have learned will enable the
groups involved to tackle \\'ater quality
questions on other upper San Juan
basin rivers in the years to come.