New Editor

by Ben Alexander

In 1947 the Colorado-Big Thompson (C/BT) Project began importing water from the western slope of Colorado to the Big Thompson River. At that time, and during the next few decades, the quality of water flowing into and through the C/BT Project and mingling with the Big Thompson River was not a major concern. Water quality was quite high by most standards and many assumed that it would always remain so. Thus, water quality monitoring on the Big Thompson River and the various components of the C/BT Project watershed has historically been done only in those places where there have been localized water quality concerns. The monitoring was, and still is, being done by several different entities at various locations throughout the watershed. Until now there has been little if any coordination and standardization of the monitoring effort, and little sharing of data among the entities.

CSU student Josh Hobgood and Keith Hancock from
CH-Diagnostics monitor water quality on Horsetooth
Reservoir.

More recently, unexplained fish kills in the Big Thompson River and serious water quality problems at some of the water treatment facilities utilizing C/BT source water have stimulated interest in improving the existing water quality monitoring efforts. By the late 1980s water quality in Horsetooth Reservoir had deteriorated to the point that the water treatment plants using the Horsetooth source had to install additional treatment equipment and begin feeding special chemicals to cope with the poorer quality of water. Within the last two years water quality concerns associated with Lake Loveland, Horseshoe Reservoir and Boyd Lake have prompted another of the local drinking water providers to initiate intensive monitoring studies to determine the source and nature of the water quality problems they are experiencing. Consulting experts on water quality have reported that many of the water quality problems are originating upstream of the reservoirs. They suggest that improvements in land use management practices within the watershed could bring about significant cost savings and improvement in water quality to the benefit of all users.

These types of water quality concerns and the obvious lack of a comprehensive monitoring program to address them are some of the main reasons the Big Thompson Watershed Forum (BTWF) was formed. The design of a water quality monitoring project for the waters inside the BTWF study area was funded in 1998 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and five local entities. The monitoring design calls for water to be routinely sampled on an on-going basis at strategic locations from the headwaters of the Big Thompson River and the Adams Tunnel all the way down to Loveland and beyond if funding can be provided. The purpose of the program is to track significant water quality changes that may be occurring. BTWF will make the water quality information available to all affected interests. By measuring the same water quality constituents at the 39 designated key locations, it will be possible, for the first time, to be able to make meaningful comparisons of the changes in water quality as the water flows from high up in the mountains, down through the canyon and out onto the plains.

The five entities that originally helped fund the monitoring design have worked with representatives from CSU to begin the ambitious effort of implementing the program. Cost estimates have been compiled for the monitoring and analysis. In addition, a method of equitably distributing the cost of the program among the participants has been proposed and informally accepted. The estimated annual cost of sampling and analysis for the entire set of East Slope sites is about $428,000. Based on these initial estimates, each flowing water site will cost about $11,000 per year, and each reservoir site will cost about $23,000 per year.

The rationale for distributing the costs is based on the location of each sampling site and the number of water providing entities that are impacted by the water quality at that site. Several of the most upstream monitoring locations are common to all users, thus the cost for those sites will be equally divided among all of the funding agencies. However, the number of entities that directly benefit from monitoring at sites located further downstream on any of the three major distribution "legs" of the C/BT project is reduced, thus the proportional cost share increases. The key to the success of the program lies in broad-based participation. Presently, agencies such as Boulder, Longmont, and Broomfield, which rely on the southern supply portion of the C/BT Project, have not been officially asked to participate in the program. Since they will receive benefits from the monitoring of those sites above their diversions, it is the intent of the Forum to provide them with an overview of the program and the opportunity to participate at the earliest possible time.

The water samples will be analyzed chemically, physically, and biologically for those substances and organisms that are considered to be of most significance and most likely to be present. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) will be sampling the flowing water sites and CH-Diagnostic will be monitoring the reservoirs. Various laboratories will be doing the analyses for given groups of constituents. Two local agency labs, the City of Loveland and City of Fort Collins, are donating the bacterial analysis and petroleum based organic compound analysis at no cost to the participants. These in-kind contributions significantly reduce the overall cost of the program. The agencies that have agreed to participate in funding the project are submitting budget requests to their policy boards to cover the beginning costs of the program starting in 2001.

Fort Collins and Greeley have offered to fund the initial program start-up this year for 15 of the flowing water sites. Folks from the USGS, Fort Collins, and the participating labs are doing everything they can to launch the program as soon as possible. There is cautious optimism that sampling may begin this month. The monitoring presently being done by individual utilities on the reservoir sources of drinking water will gradually be phased into the overall BTWF monitoring program.

Simultaneously, interest in water quality monitoring has been building on the west slope portion of the C/BT Project. Folks from Three Lakes Watershed Association (TLWA) have expressed an interest in standardizing monitoring methods and sharing water quality data and information. They are staying closely tuned in to the BTWF Program. Selected BTWF members have been invited to assist TLWA in its monitoring effort. A well-coordinated watershed monitoring program that includes both East Slope and West Slope would be an asset not only to everyone within the Big Thompson watershed, but also to many beyond its boundaries.