WSP00521

• File Number: 8200.765
• Description: White River General
• State: CO
• Basin: Yampa/White
• Water Division: 6
• Date: 1/1/1990
• Author: USGS
• Title: Water Quality and Sediment-Transport Characteristics in Kenney Reservoir - White River Basin - Northwestern Colorado
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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DISSOLVED SOUDS '" 0.67 (SPECIFIC CONDUCTANCE) -14.3
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95 PERCENT CONFIDENCE INTERVAL

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COEFFICIENT OF DETERMINATION

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SPECIFIC CONDUCTANCE. IN MICROSIEMENS PER CENTIMETER AT 25 DEGREES CELSIUS

Figure 7.--Relation of dissolved-solids concentration to specific
conductance in Kenney Reservoir (sites 1 and 2) and the White River
(site 3), water years 1985-87.

Measured values of pH in Kenney Reservoir (tables 11 and 12 in the
"Hydrologic Data" section) ranged from 7.4 to 8.8 at site 1 and from 8.2 to
8.6 at site 2. For all depths less than 41 ft at site 1, however, pH ranged
from 7.9 to 8.8 (fig. 6). Reservoir data collected from below 40 ft at site 1
represented water from the near-bottom environment. Values of pH in this
near-bottom water occasionally were less than 8.0 and decreased several tenths
of a pH unit when compared with the overlying water column. These decreases
in pH likely were due to the accumulation of CO2 and other metabolic waste
products that resulted from decomposing organic matter within the benthic zone
during periods of thermal stratification and low inflow-outflow discharge.
However, because the bottom of newly constructed reservoirs requires time to
stabilize, the small pH value of 7.4 measured near the bottom of the reservoir
at site 1 in January 1985 probably was not considered representative of
reservoir conditions because of construction materials and recent soil dis-
turbance. During water years 1985-87, measured values of pH at site 3 on the
White River ranged from 8.0 to 8.8.

Values of pH at site 1 generally were greatest at or near the reservoir
surface. Values of pH changed little with depth at site 2. The pH values at
sites 1 and 2 exceeded 8.5 only in water that was supersaturated with respect
to dissolved oxygen (tables 11 and 12). The larger pH values (greater than
8.5) were caused by the uptake of CO2 and the conversion of HC03 ions to CO2
by algae during photosynthesis and related oxygen production. During
additional sampling at a selected site near the center of the reservoir on

17