WSP01891

• File Number: 8200.760
• Description: Yampa River General
• State: CO
• Basin: Yampa/White
• Water Division: 6
• Date: 4/1/1976
• Author: USGS
• Title: An Environmental Assessment of Impacts of Coal Development on the Water Resources of the Yampa River Basin - Colorado and Wyoming - Phase I Work Plan
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

002~05

Stream-Quality Reconn~issance

Samples were collected for determination of selected water-qual ity con-
stituents by U.S. Geological Survey personnel at 85 sItes visited during a
2-week stream-quality reconnaissance survey of the Yampa River basin in August
and September 1975. Thirty of these reconnaissance sites are scheduled for
quarterly sampl ing by Survey personnel durIng Phase J I of the project for a
monitoring period of 12 months beginning in December 1975. Another two of
these reconna i ssance sites p I us an add it i ona I 10 sites a re to besamp I ed by
U.S. Forest Service personnel on the same schedule. The 85 stations designat-
ed for collection of reconnaissance data during August and Septe~ber 1975 are
indicated on figure 2. Al I 95 reconnaissance or monitoring sites sampled as
part of the basin assessment are listed in table 2, The monitor code for each
station indicates those reconnaissance stations in the basin and supplemental
stations in Routt County for which continuing data are to be collected.

Of the total 85 reconnaissance sites, majo.r inorganic ions were measured
at 30 stations during the August-September 1975 survey. These 30 sItes in-
clude 18 of the sItes in the lorns and others (1964) survey, which was made
from 1947 to 1958, plus 12 additional sites. Other data were collected, as
defined elsewhere, at the remaining 55 sItes sampled by U.S. Geological Survey
personnel durIng August-September 1975. '

Of the 85 U.S. Geological Survey sites, 12 are prImary-control sites
(should show no effect from upstream use); 11 are secondary-cohtrol sites (de-
signed as controls, but may show some upstream effects); 31 are potentially
affected by munlcipai sewage or by mining and related activities; and 31 are
of a miscellaneous nature (designed primarily so that no major tributary drain-
age is overlooked). Twenty-one of the sites were visited previously in 1972
during a statevlide mine-draInage survey (Moran and Wentz, 1974); 15 sites are
active U.S. Geological Survey stream-gaging stations. Four of the 85 U.S.
Geological Survey sItes were selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency; whereas, 14 others were establ ished or have been proposed for the four
"coal-mining priority areas" as a part of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's
Energy Mineral Rehabil itation lnventory and Analysis (EMRIA) program. Tenta-
tively, station operations at these latter 18 stations, when implemented, will
be funded by the above agencies and operated by the U.S. Geolog.ical .Survey.

Selection of the 85 U.S. Geological Survey sites was coordinated with
representatives of U.S. Environmental ProtectIon Agency, Region VI II, Surveil-
lance and Analysis Division and Water Planning Office; Colorado West and North-
west Councils of Governments (Regions XI and XI I, respectively); and planning
commissions for Routt and Moffat Counties.

A total of 55 ~ites are included ~n some form of continuing data-collec-
tion program for the duration of the assessment project (see table 2). A
breakdown of these sites is as follows: (1) 26--Assessmentproject, (2) 4--
Routt County, (}) 12--U.S. Forest Service, (4) 2--NASQAN, (5) 4--U.s. Environ-
mental Protection Agency cooperative program with the U.S. Geological Survey,
and (6) 7--U.S. Bureau of Land Management cooperative program with the U.S.
Geological Survey.

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