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<br />002S72 <br /> <br />Stream-Quality Reconnaissance <br /> <br />Samples were collected for determination of selected water-qual ity con- <br />stituents by U.S. Geological Survey personnel at 85 sites visited during a <br />2-week stream-quality reconnaissance survey of the Yampa River basin in August <br />and September 1975. Thirty of these reconnaissance sites are scheduled for <br />quarterly sampling by Survey personnel during Phase II of the project for a <br />monitoring period of 12 months beginning in December 1975. Another two of <br />these reconnaissance sites plus an additional 10 sites are to be sampled by <br />U.S. Forest Service personnel on the same schedule. The 85 stations designat- <br />ed for collection of reconnaissance data during August and September 1975 are <br />indicated on figure 2. All 95 reconnaissance or monitoring sites sampled as <br />part of the basin assessment are listed in table 2. The monitor code for each <br />station indicates those reconnaissance stations in the basin and supplemental <br />stations in Routt County for which continuing data are to be collected. <br /> <br />Of the total 85 reconnaissance sites, major inorganic ions were measured <br />at 30 stations during the August-September 1975 survey. These 30 sites in- <br />clude 18 of the sites in the lorns and others (1964) survey, which was made <br />from 1947 to 1958, plus 12 additional sites. Other data were collected, as <br />defined elsewhere, at the remaining 55 sites sampled by U.S. Geological Survey <br />personnel during August-September 1975. <br /> <br />Of the 85 U.S. Geological Survey sites, 12 are primary-control sites <br />(should show no effect from upstream use); 11 are secondary-control sites (de- <br />signed as controls, but may show some upstream effects); 31 are potentially <br />affected by municipal sewage or by mining and related activities; and 31 are <br />of a miscellaneous nature (designed primarily so that no major tributary drain- <br />age is overlooked). Twenty-one of the sites were visited previously in 1972 <br />during a statewide mine-drainage survey (Moran and Wentz, 1974); 15 sites are <br />active U.S. Geological Survey stream-gaging stations. Four of the 85 U.S. <br />Geological Survey sites were selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection <br />Agency; whereas, 14 others were established or have been proposed for the four <br />"coal-mining priority areas" as a part of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's <br />Energy Mineral Rehabilitation Inventory and Analysis (EMRIA) program. Tenta- <br />tively, station operations at these latter 18 stations, when implemented, will <br />be funded by the above agencies and operated by the U.S. Geological Survey. <br /> <br />Selection of the 85 U.S. Geological Survey sites was coordinated with <br />representatives of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region VI II, Surveil- <br />lance and Analysis Division and Water Planning Office; Colorado West and North- <br />west Councils of Governments (Regions XI and XI I, respectively); and planning <br />commissions for Routt and Moffat Counties. <br /> <br />A total of 55 sites are included in some form of continuing data-collec- <br />tion program for the duration of the assessment project (see table 2). A <br />breakdown of these sites is as follows: (1) 26--Assessment project, (2) 4-- <br />Routt County, (3) 12--U.S. Forest Service, (4) 2--NASQAN, (5) 4--U.s. Environ- <br />mental Protection Agency cooperative program with the U.S. Geological Survey, <br />and (6) 7--U.S. Bureau of Land Management cooperative program with the U.S. <br />Geological Survey. <br /> <br />9 <br /> <br />;io <br />