The Quarterly Newsletter of the

February 16, 2000..                                                                                                       Volume 1 Issue 1

Watershed Assessment Committee Overview

by Ben Alexander

The Watershed Assessment Committee (WAC) was created to handle some of the more technical aspects of watershed monitoring and protection for the Big Thompson Watershed Forum (BTWF). The committee has been project-oriented since its inception with the make-up of the committee adjusting to meet the needs of the special projects underway at any given time. A variety of projects associated with Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and satellite imagery as well as water quality monitoring have been undertaken to date. The resources to accomplish these projects have come from direct financial contributions and/or in-kind services of BTWF members, from various Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants and from Colorado State University faculty and students.

The first task of the committee was to prepare the GIS map of the watershed boundary that was adopted by BTWF. The map serves multiple purposes. It describes the area that the BTWF membership has adopted as the portion of the Colorado/Big Thompson (C/BT) watershed they will be most directly involved with. The GIS base also serves as the underlying geographic foundation for most of the data the BTWF will be working with as we pursue our objectives of protecting the watershed.  Satellite imagery projects have been done to help BTWF assess what types of land use changes are occurring within the watershed. More of this type of work is presently being considered.

Perhaps the most ambitious project to be tackled by the WAC is the design and implementation of a water quality monitoring program for the Big Thompson River and that portion of the C/BT Project that is situated within the boundary adopted by the BTWF. The design of the monitoring program is complete and committee members are currently finalizing the costs in hopes of implementing it in the near future. The preliminary design report is available to anyone who would like to see it.

On the immediate horizon, the committee is considering applying for grants and soliciting members’ support to pull together the beginning of a data management system to cope with the tremendous amount of data and reports that will be necessary for supporting the needs of the BTWF stakeholders.

At present committee members are working to assess the water quality impacts of the proposed modernization of the dams on Horsetooth Reservoir. The dam rehabilitation work will require operating the reservoir at much lower than normal levels during a period of construction that may last a few years. The USBR needs the water quality assessment as part of the required environmental impact analysis to accompany the budget request for funding the dam rehabilitation.

The WAC also serves as needed in the role of providing support to the Forum’s west slope partner, the Three Lakes Watershed Association. Close coordination of methods, standards, and technical activities between the two organizations is one of the mutually supported goals for the committee.

In the future it would be desirable to expand the WAC to become more of a standing committee of technical experts. The duty of the committee will be to oversee projects, protocols, and data analysis. The WAC will support BTWF staff by coordinating assessment activities, managing data and assuring that technical information is made available to our stakeholders in a useable form.