QUANTITY and QUALITY of STREAMFLOW in the WHITE RIVER BASIN, COLORADO and UTAH by Jeanne M
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QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF STREAMFLOW IN THE WHITE RIVER BASIN, COLORADO AND UTAH By Jeanne M. Boyle, Kenneth J. Covay, and Daniel P. Bauer U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Water-Resources Investigations Report 84-4022 Lakewood, Colorado 1984 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WILLIAM P. CLARK, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Dallas L. Peck, Director For additional information write to: May be purchased from: Open-File Services Section Colorado District Chief Western Distribution Branch U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Geological Survey, MS 306 Box 25046, Mail Stop 415 Box 25425, Denver Federal Center Denver Federal Center Denver, CO 80225 Lakewood, CO 80225 (303) 236-7476 CONTENTS Page MUbbldCLA u 4. .-,_ a. ________________ " ----- _____ _ _ 1j^ 1.0 Introduction-- ------------------------------------------------ 4 1.1 Objective 4 Daniel P. Bauer 1.2 Study area----- Daniel P. Bauer . 2.1 Geology 8 Kenneth J. Covay 2.2 Precipitation 10 Daniel P. Bauer 3.0 Hydrologic network------------ -------------------------------- 12 Kenneth J. Covay 4.0 Quantitative characteristics of streamflow-------- ------------ 14 4.1 Monthly flow variation-------------------- ---- ----------- 14 Daniel P. Bauer 4.2 Low flow and high flow------------- ---------- ------------ 15 Daniel P. Bauer 4.3 Flow durati on---------------------------- -------------------- j_8 Kenneth J. Covay 5.0 Reconnaissance of surface-water quality--- --- 22 5.1 Sampling SI^QS----------------------------------------------- 22 Kenneth J. Covay O li/o+/->v% rti 1-3 1 -i 4-\/ 9A 5 . c. water quai ity £o 5.2.1 Water types 26 5.2.1.1 Analysis------------------------------------------ 26 Kenneth J. Covay 5.2.1.2 Spatial variations 28 Kenneth J. Covay 5.2.2 Dissolved-solids discharge- -- 30 Kenneth J. Covay m CONTENTS 5.0 Reconnaissance of surface-water quality Continued 5.2 Water quality Continued Page 5.2.3 Stream temperature, pH, and percent saturation of dissolved oxygen------------------------------------ 32 Kenneth J. Covay 5.2.4 Algal-growth potential and nutrients ------ --__ 34 Kenneth J. Covay 5.2.5 Trace elements------------ -- ------ - ---- 35 5.2.5.1 Concentrations in bed material----------- -- 36 Kenneth J. Covay 5.2.5.2 Total-recoverable concentrations----------- ----- 33 Kenneth J. Covay 6.0 Historic quality of surface water------------------------ ----- 40 6.1 Dissolved solids---- --------- _ __ _ 49 6.1.1 General analysis------ ---------------- ---__----_---_ 49 Jeanne M. Boyle 6.1.2 Computational methods------- ------------------- ----- 45 Jeanne M. Boyle 6.1.3 Possible dissol ved-sol ids changes -- --- ----- 59 Jeanne M. Boyle 6.2 Water temperature ------ ___- __ __ 54 6.2.1 General analysis----- --------------------------------- 54 Jeanne M. Boyle 6.2.2 Harmonic characteristics versus elevation------- ------ 53 Jeanne M. Boyle 6.2.3 Air-temperature relations------------ ----------------- 60 Jeanne M. Boyle 6.3 Suspended sediment-- -- -- 64 Kenneth J. Covay 6.4 Major inorganic constituents-------------------------- ----- 66 Kenneth J. Covay 6.5 Benthic invertebrates-------------- ------------------------ 70 Kenneth J. Covay IV CONTENTS Page 7.0 References cited 73 8.0 Supplementary data 74 ILLUSTRATIONS Page Figure 1.1-1. Photographs of U.S. Geological Survey personnel collecting water-resource data- - - - 5 1.2-1. Map showing geographic features and location of energy resources - - - 7 1.2-2. Photographs of energy-resources development -- 7 2.1-1. Map showing generalized bedrock geology 9 2.2-1. Map showing average annual precipitation and graphs showing average monthly precipitation at four stations - ---- - - - -- 11 3.0-1. Map showing location of surface-water hydrologic monitoring stations- - - - - 13 4.1-1. Graphs of discharge box plots showing seasonal variation of flow at four streamflow-gaging stations - - - - -- - - - 15 4.3-1. Graph of duration curves for four selected streamflow- gaging stations ---- -- - - - 21 5.1-1. Map showing location of water-quality reconnaissance sampling sites, August 1981 23 5.2.1.1-1. Graphs showing water-composition changes in the White River, August 1981 27 5.2.1.2-1. Diagram showing water-quality characteristics in the White River basin, August 1981 29 5.2.2-1. Graph showing specific conductance, dissolved-solids concentration, and stream discharge 31 5.2.3-1. Graph showing stream temperature, pH, and percent saturation of dissolved oxygen 33 5.2.4-1. Graphs showing algal-growth potential and concentrations of dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus - 35 5.2.5.1-1. Graphs showing trace-element concentrations in bed material 37 CONTENTS Page Figure 5.2.5.2-1. Graphs showing total-recoverable trace-element concentrations-------------------------------------- 39 6.1.1-1. Map showing location of streamflow-gaging stations used to estimate daily dissolved-solids concentrations and monthly and annual loads--------- 43 6.1.2-1. Graphs showing dissolved-solids loads at water- quality stations 39 and 44-------------------------- 47 6.1.2-2. Map showing location of water-quality stations used to estimate dissolved-solids concentrations--------- 49 6.1.2-3. Graph showing dissolved-solids and specific- conductance relations------------------------------- 49 6.1.3-1. Graph showing possible dissolved-solids concentrations in Piceance Creek at White River, Colo., that could result from the discharge of ground water containing variable dissolved-solids concentrations into the creek------------------------------------ --------- 51 6.1.3-2. Map showing location of stations used in analysis of possible dissolved-solids changes in streamflow----- 51 6.1.3-3. Graph showing possible dissolved-solids concentrations in Yellow Creek near White River, Colo., that could result from the discharge of ground water containing variable dissolved-solids concentrations into the creek"---------------------------------------------- 53 6.1.3-4. Graph showing possible dissolved-solids concentrations in Evacuation Creek near Watson, Utah, that could result from the discharge of ground water containing variable dissolved-solids concentrations into the creek"---------------------------------------------- QJ 6.2.1-1. Graph showing seasonal temperature patterns for period of record at station 21 White River below Meeker, Colo. (1962-81) 56 6.2.1-2. Graph showing seasonal temperature patterns for period of record at station 44 Piceance Creek at White River, Colo. (1971-81) 57 6.2.2-1. Graph showing relations between stream-temperature harmonic-analysis coefficients and stream elevation- 59 VI CONTENTS Page Figure 6.2.3-1. Graphs showing water temperature and air temperature relations at 13 streamf low-gaging stations in the central part of the White River basin, Colorado- - 63 6.3-1. Map showing minimum and maximum suspended-sediment discharges at seven stations-- -- ----- 55 6.4-1. Map showing long-term water-quality stations on the White River 69 6.5-1. Map showing benthic-invertebrate sampling stations on the White River, Colo. 71 TABLES Page Table 4.2-1. Streamf low characteristics at selected gaging stations------------------- -- -------- ------- _-- 37 4.3-1. Flow duration at 10 selected streamf low-gaging stations - -- 19 5.1-1. White River water-quality reconnaissance sites-- --- 24 5.1-2. Tributary water-quality reconnaissance sites------ ---- 24 6.1.1-1. Regression coefficients and statistics for the relation between daily dissol ved-solids concentration and daily discharge--- ---- ----------- 41 6.1.1-2. Monthly mean dissol ved-sol ids loads and total annual loads estimated from regression analyses----- - 44 6.1.2-1. Coefficients for relations between dissol ved- sol ids and specific conductance -------- - - -- 43 6.2.1-1. Harmonic parameters for periodic stream temperatures for selected stations------ - ----- - ----- - 55 6.2.3-1. Water temperature versus air temperature, White River basin, Colorado-------- ---- - ------ 5^ 6.4-1. Regression equations of major ions versus specific conductance and discharge at selected stations------ - 67 6.5-1. Relative abundance of benthic invertebrates at six White River stations, White River basin, Colorado - 71 VI 1 FACTORS FOR CONVERTING INCH-POUND UNITS TO INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS (SI) For the convenience of readers who may want to use International System of Units (SI), the data may be converted using the following factors: Multiply inch-pound units By To obtain SI units barrel (petroleum, 0.1590 cubic meter 1 barrel = 42 gal Ions) inch 25.40 millimeter foot 0.3048 meter mile 1.609 kilometer square mile 2.590 square kilometer cubic foot per second 0.02832 cubic meter per second cubic foot per second 0.01093 cubic meter per second per square mile per square kilometer ton (short) 0.9072 megagram Degrees Celsius (°C) may be converted to degrees Fahrenheit (°F) by using the following equation: °F = 9/5 °C+32 National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD of 1929): A geodetic datum derived from a general adjustment of the first-order level nets of both the United States and Canada, formerly called mean sea level. NGVD of 1929 is referred to as sea level in this report. VI 1 1 QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF STREAMFLOW IN THE WHITE RIVER BASIN, COLORADO AND UTAH By Jeanne M. Boyle, Kenneth J. Covay, and Daniel P. Bauer ABSTRACT The water quality and flow of existing streams in the White River basin, located in northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah, are adequate for present uses, but future development (such as energy) may affect stream quality and quantity. This paper describes present conditions as a baseline to enable planners