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,- . 4~Zi . . c. Water Quality (1) Surface Water The quality of the native surface waters in streams on both the West and the East Slopes of the Rocky Mountains is relatively good. Being primarily snowmelt streams, only those impurities picked up from the soluble rock strata in the watershed are present except for instances of serious pollution from mine drainage. The quality of the water does have a seasonal variation. As the snowmelt runoff diminishes during the year and a greater percentage of the runoff is from ground water or base flow, the quality de teriora tes. The following data are indicative of the quality of the West Slope streams from which diversions are-being or will be made to the East Slope: 6 samples collected from points of diversion on the headwaters of the Fryingpan River during the summer of 1973 all had total dissolved solids concentrations in 20-28 ppm range. Halfmoon Creek is one of the upper basin tributaries of the Arkansas River which originates on the East Slope of the Rockies. Data collected on this stream during water years 1967-73 give average values for parameters indicative of the chemical quality of the water and show the seasonal variations: Discharge Total dissolved Total hardness 105 ft3/s* 29 mg/l 24 mg/l 3.2 57 46 ft3/s* mg/l mg/l solids * High flows for the period of record occurred during a span from late May to mid-July. Low flows occurred during a span from mid-January to late March. In the mainstream of the Arkansas River, the water quality becomes progressively poorer with downstream travel as a result of mine-drainage, municipal and industrial waste- water discharges, irrigation return flows, and natural solution of channel materials. Chemical concentrations also vary with changes in runoff and seasonal use patterns. See Table III-3. III-36