SANJUAN RIVER BASIN WATER QUALITYAND CONTAMINANTS REVIEW VOLUMEI APRIL1994 ROBINABELL MUSEUMOF SOUTHWESTERN BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT0 F BIOLOGY UNWERSITY OF NEWMEXICO TABLE OF CONTENTS LTST OF FIGURES ............................................ v LIST OF TABLES ............................................ vii LIST OF APPENDICES ......................................... x EXECUTIVE SUMMARY....................................... xv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................... xvi 1.INTRODUCTION........................................... 1 2 . STUDYAREA .................. ........................ 1 2.1 SOILS AND GEOLOGY ................................ 1 2.2 MINERALRESOURCES ....... ........................ 5 2.3 LAND OWNERSHIP ................................... 5 2.4 POPULATION ...................................... 5 2SlRRIGATION ....................................... 5 2.6WATER USE ............. ........................ 12 2.7BIOTA ............................................ 12 3.METHODS ............................................ 12 4 . RESULTS .................. ......................... 15 4.1 NATIVE FISH FAUNA CHARACTERISTICS...................... 15 4.2 SAN JUAN RIVER BASIN FISH DISEASE DATA................... 16 4.3 WATER QUALITY STANDARDS .......................... 17 4.3.1 EPA WATER QUALITY STANDARDS.................... 17 4.3.2 STATE SURFACE WATER QUALITY STANDARDS............ 22 4.4 RESERVOTRS AND DAMS ............................. 62 4.5 SEDIMENT ......................................... 81 4.6SALINITY ......................................... 95 4.7 GROUNDWATER .................................... 110 4.8 PESTICIDES AND PCBs............................... 116 4.9 TRACE ELEMENTS ................................. 129 4.9.1 MERCURY................................... 131 4.9.2 SELENIUM .................................. 135 4.10 IRRIGATION ............ ....................... 150 4.10.1SAN JUANDO1RECONNAISSANCE INVESTIGATION ........150 4.10.2 NAVAJOINDTAN IRRIGATION PROJECT................ 169 4.10.3 DOLORES PROJECT ........................... 183 4.10.4 MANCOS PROJECT........................... 186 4.10.5 SOUTHERN UTEINDIAN RESERVATION................ 192 4.10.6 ANIMAS-LA PLATA PROJECT ...................... 192 4.11 GRAZING AND LOGGING ............................. 201 4.12 MINERAL EXTRACTION, PROCESSING, AND USE................ 201 4.12.1 POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS .............201 4.12.2 OIL AND NATURAL GAS- BACKGROUND ...............210 4.12.3 OIL EXTRACTION AND REFINEMENT .................215 111 Table of Contents 4.12.3.1 BLOOMFIELD REFINING COMPANY REFINERY...... 228 4.12.3.2 LEE ACRES LANDFILL..................... 228 4.12.4 NATURAL GAS EXTRACTION AND PROCESSING.......... 231 4.12.5 NON-FUEL MINERALS MINING ..................... 243 4.12.6 URANIUM MINING AND MILLING.................... 247 4.12.7 COAL MINING............................... 252 4.12.8 COAL-FIRED POWERPLANTS ..................... 255 4.13 POINT SOURCE DISCHARGERS .......................... 261 4.14 SYNOPSIS OF RESULTS ............................ 263 5 .DISCUSSION ............................................ 282 REFERENCES CITED ......................................... 287 1v FIGURES 1. The San Juan River basin .................................... 2 2 . The San Juan River and major tributaries............................. 3 3 . Geologic structure of the San Juan basin ............................. 4 4 . San Juan basin pctroleum ficlds .................................. 6 5 . San Juan basin coal deposits.................................... 7 6 . Population in theSan Juan basin above Shiprock. 1860-1970 .................. 8 7 . Location of DOI-sponsored irrigation projects.San Juan basin ................. 9 8a . Collection recordsof roundtail chub in the San Juan River. New Mexico and Utah. 1987.1989 ............................................ 13 8b. Collection records of razorback suckerin the San Juan River.New7 Mexico and Utah. 1987.1989 ............................................ 13 8c. Collection recordsof Colorado squawfish in the San Juan River. NewMesico and Utah. 1987-1989 ............................................ 13 9 . Location o€ discased fish collectedfrom the Animas River.1992 ................18 10 Lake Powell sample sites. U.S.Fish and Wildlifc Scrvice study.1991-1992 ..........82 11. Stages of arroyo evolution..................................... 91 12a. Rclation between annual suspended scdiment load and annualrunoff for Animas River at Farmington: New Mexico ................................ 92 12b. Annual suspended sediment conccntrations through timefor the Animas River at Farmington.New Mexico .......... ....................... 92 13a. Annual stream discharge. San Juan Rivcr near Bluff. Utah. water years 1930.1980....... 93 13b. Annual suspcnded sediment load. San Juan Rivcr near Blu€f. Utah. water years 1930-1980 .......................................... 93 14. Major cxposuresof Mancos Shale and cquivalent rocks the in Upper Colorado Rivcr basin........................................... 97 15. Distribution of major cations and anions at selcctcd stations in the San Juan River basin. 1975 ......................................... 98 16. Analyses of waterfrom sclected strcams in the San Juan River basinfrom and alluvium ncarby .......................................... 99 17. Approximate wcighted-avcrage concentrationof dissolved solidsof streams inthe San Juan Rivcr basin....................................... 100 18. Mean total dissolved solids and conductivity. 1973.at USGS sampling stations .......101 19. Approsinlate dissolved-solids discharge andstreamflow expresscd as percentagesof thc dissolvcd-solids discharge and streamflow of the San Juan River near Bluff. Utah... 102 20 . Location of 1993 USGS study area and approximate locationof irrigation projects...... 105 21 . Major existing sources of potential groundwater contamination in New Mcxico....... 112 22 . Relative vulnerabilityof New Mcxico aquifcrsto contamination fiom surface discharges . 113 23. Location of USGS Aneth groundwater study.......................... 117 24 . Location of USGS Animas Rivcr Valley groundwater study.................. 118 25 . O'Bricn (1987) study area and collection sites ......................... 120 26 . Water quality. bottom sedirncnt. andbiota sampling sitcs on or adjacentto DOI-sponsored irrigation projccts. San JuanDO1 reconnaissance investigation........ 152 27 . Water quality and bottom sediment sampling sites and fish sampling reaches of the San Juan Riwr and at thc mouths of tributary strcams.San Juan DO1 reconnaiss'ance investigation... ............................ 153 28 . Concentrations of dissolvcd selenium in water samplcs from irrigation project sitcs. San Juan DO1 reconnaissance investigation........................... 161 29 . Comparison of sclcnium conccntrationsin all speciesof suckers collectcd[or the NCBP in 1984. and in flannelmouth suckers from the San Juan River in 1990. San JuanDO1 reconnaissance invcstigation.......................... 164 V .. Figures 30 . Comparison of copper concentrationsin carp collected for the NCBPin 1984 and €om the San Juan River in 1990. San JuanDOJ reconnaissance investigation ...........170 31. Comparison or lead conccntrationsin all spcciesor suckcrs collectedfor the NCBP in 1984. and in flannelmouth suckers from the San Juan Riverin 1990. San Juan DO1 reconnaissance investigation................................... 171 32 . Comparison of mercury concentrationsin all species of suckers collectedfor the NCBP in 1984. and from flannelmouth suckers from the San Juan River1990. in San Juan DO1 rcconnaissance investigation................................ 172 33 . Mean selenium concentration in the San Juan River from Archuleta.New Mexico to Bluff.Utah. 1958-1988 .................................... 175 34 . Selcnium concentrationsin aquatic vegetationat various locations on theSan Juan Rivcr. as mcasured lor the NTIP Biological Assessmcnt ...................176 35 . Selenium concentrations in macroinvertebratesat various locationson the San Juan River. as measurcd for the NIIP Biological Asscssment .................... 177 36 . Sclenium concentrations in fishat various locationson the San Juan River. as mcasured Tor the NIIP Biological Assessment............................... 178 37 . Projected maximum monthly selenium levelsfor full development of Blocks1-8 of thc NIIP. as determined €or the NIlP Biological Assessment .................... 182 38 . Recreational attractions inthe San Juan basin.......................... 185 39 . Ring structures of rcprcsentativc polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.............. 202 40 . Encrgy resource areas and production activitics in the San Juan River.......... basin 211 41 . Map of oil and gas pipelines in New Mexico......................... 217 42 . Site location.Bloomfield Rcfinery ...... ...................... 229 43 . Location of Lee Acres Landfill and Lee Acres Community......... ........230 44 . Simplified llo~diagram of gas processing ........................... 235 45 . Map of Eiceman (1987) test site in Duncan Oil Field. northwestern New Mexico....... 240 46 . Map of Monument Valley showing the location of early carnotite ............ lcascs 249 47 . Map oicoal mlnes and major coal fields inNew Mexico .................... 253 .. TABLES 1 . Population of selected towns. San Juan Rivcr basin.1990 .................... 10 2 . Population of Indian rescrvations.San Juan Rivcr basin.1990 ..................11 3 . EPA water