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WSP06813
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Last modified
1/26/2010 2:24:28 PM
Creation date
10/12/2006 1:53:13 AM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Water Supply Protection
File Number
8273.400
Description
Colorado River Basin Salinity Control - Federal Agency Reports - BLM
Basin
Colorado Mainstem
Water Division
5
Date
2/1/1980
Title
Control of Salinity from Point Sources Yielding Groundwater Discharge and from Diffuse Surface Runoff in the Upper Colorado River Basin - 1978-79 Status Report
Water Supply Pro - Doc Type
Report/Study
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<br />C..., <br />(..iT <br />"'..... <br />~~ <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />~~{ <br /> <br />,'1 <br /> <br />V. RECENT GROUNDWATER INVESTIGATIONS <br /> <br /> <br />Recent investigations on the contribution of interflow to salinity of <br />groundwater in arid and semiarid regions of western Colorado revealed <br />that recharge does not come from precipitation falling on large areas of <br />rangeland (31). Salinity profiles in the weathered materials suggested <br />these soils were not an avenue for recharge. Evidence from both sites <br />indicated that the direction of net water movement in soils was upward <br />rather than downward. McWhorter and Skogerboe (31) theorized recharge <br />occurred when runoff or snowmelt on the upper borders of the .watershed <br />intersected exposed bedrock. Data from a series of observation wells <br />showed that groundwater moved along a contact between bedrock and the <br />soi 1 profil e. <br /> <br />In a draft report, Warner and Heimes (41) discussed the findings of an <br />extensive groundwater study in that part of the Upper Basin .above the <br />confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers. This large region was <br />divi.ded into 9 subregions or basins. Data were collected on streamflow, <br />conductivity, and water qualHy through chemical analyses. Measurements <br />were taken in December and January when streamflow was at a low 1 eve], . <br />made up primari ly by groundwater di scharge. Cold temperatures at this <br />time of year would have made surface runoff from melting snow very <br />un 1 i ke 1 y, and there was no observed ra i nfa 11. The vol ume of i rri gat ion <br />returnflow should also have been at a minimum. Measurements were not <br />taken as a part of this study in areas where adequate data existed as a <br />result of previous studies, as, for example, the Piceance Basin oil <br />shale investigations. <br /> <br />i: <br />> ;; <br />'t <br />t' <br />i~; <br />"\ <br />,j' <br /> <br />;[;, <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />The area covered by the Warner and Heimes report yields 74 percent of <br />the water and 77 percent of the salt contributed by the Upper Basin. <br />The measured groundwater contribution to the total annual salt load of <br />this part of the Upper Basin was 55 percent. However, the groundwater <br />contributed by each of the 9 subbasins varied considerably, .from a low <br />of 30 percent in the Upper Green River Basin, to a high of 93. percent in <br />the LOWer Colorado River Headwaters. In general, the ,percent of total <br />salt load contributed by groundwater was higher for' subbasins in the, <br />Colorado River Region, an average of 69 percent, than for subbasins in <br />the Green River Region, an average of only 38 percent (41). <br /> <br />The Upper Colorado Headwaters subbasin is an area of high mountain <br />country on the west slopes of the Continental Divide. The geologic <br />formations are classed as slightly to nonsaline. The soils are In- <br />ceptisols, Alfisols, and Mollisols which are normally low in salts or <br />have been leached by virtue of their location at higher elevations. <br />Vegetation is alpine tundra, conifers, mountain shrub, and meadowlands <br />(3). Salt concentrations in runoff would be very low (19)'. This sub- <br />basin produces 28 percent of the total water for the study region and <br />only 16 percent of the total salt load. However,the subbasin accounts <br />for 26 percent of the total salt contributed from groundwater. Of the <br />salt produced by the subbasin, 87 percent comes from groundwater yielded <br />by the Eagle Valley Evaporite Formation and from Glenwood and Dotsero <br />Hot Springs (41). . Point source salt contributions can be very signifi- <br />cant. The Water and Power Resources Service (WPRS, formerly the Bureau <br /> <br /> <br />12 <br /> <br />
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