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..... UI UI 0) :I II. COLORADO WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT SUMMARY In addition to providing a water quality grant funding strategy, ,he Colorado-EPA agreement is also intended to direct limited resources toward the ,'-'. most serious water quality problems in the State. The summary in this year's agreement provides an overview of Colorado's water qual ity problems. In the development of the FY 80 agreement we will initiate an attempt to rank the problems according to seriousness statewide and set priorities for dealing with these problems. Sources for this sunrnary included the "Colorado Water Qual ity Report (1976)," Section 303(e) basin plans, "Water Qual ity in Non-desiqnated Areas of Colorado," areawide 208 agency assessments, the State agricultural and mining nonpoin~ source assessments, and Colorado Division of Wildl ife fisheries informat ion. South Platte River Basin The South Platte River drains most of northeast Colorado. The main stem originates above Fairplay and flows into Nebraska near Julesburg. Most of Colorado's major population and industrial centers are located along the Platte. The fishery resources in the mountain tributaries of the South Platte generally rate from highest quality to substantial quality. In particular seg- ments there are significant problems resulting from nine drainage, poorly 10- cated septic tanks, and construction on steep erodible soils. As the trib- utaries leave the mountains, municipal and industrial discharges, and urban storm water runoff from the major population centers cause problems with dissolved oxygen, anrnonia and fecal col iform. In the plains region, water diversion for irrigation and municipal use results in flow depletions and in no surface flow during portions of the year. Salinity in the Platte at the II - 1 . l.; ,""-~ ., .....~! .~-~"'~:."~,,--~