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<br /> Ini tial 5-day <br /> Station Date D.O. pp:n D.O. ppm BODS <br />N CR-2 12/17/73 12.9 12.8 0.1 <br />c:: <br />--1 CR-4 12/17/73 12.8 12.6 0.2 <br />,- <br /> CR-6 12/17/73 12.7 12.6 0.1 <br /> <br />T.~se results also represent less than 20% dissolved oxygen depletion and are <br /> <br />inconclusive. However, the results do indicate that oxidizable material placed <br /> <br />in the River during the winter months will take an inordinate amount of time to <br /> <br />break down. <br /> <br />Chemical analysis of river sediments did not indicate any downstream patterns <br /> <br />(see Table 17). Inspection of the data does demonstrate extremely high cor.cen- <br /> <br />trations of phosphorus, up to 3.6 grams P04/K9 of sediment, and nitrogen, a <br /> <br />maximum of 864 mglKg of sediment in the Colorado River substrate. Nitrogen in <br /> <br />tr~ suspended solids settles to the stream bottom and phosphate in the water <br /> <br />absorbs rapidly direct~y onto the substrate or onto suspended matter and settles <br /> <br />to r.~e river bottom in eddies and pools. T."2ese nutrients in the sediments are <br /> <br />generally available to plant life. With the immense concentrations of nutrients <br /> <br />on t.~ substrate and diseolved C02, .~derate alkalinities and high dissolved <br /> <br />oxygen flowing past, diatoms and filamentons algae rapidly colonize r.~e river <br /> <br />bottom forming the brown mat which covers the river bottom, bot.; rocks and <br /> <br />sediments. <br /> <br />Analysis of effluents from wastewater treatment plants and industrial <br /> <br />disc.iarqes wit.~n the study area showed that only three facilities, Rifle, <br /> <br />Grand Valley, and American Gilsonite were not violating any of the State <br /> <br />Discharge Standards that were in effect at time of sampling (Table 18). BODS <br /> <br />-13- <br />