Big Thompson Watershed Forum

 Monitoring Data - Preliminary Results

PLEASE NOTE:  The data presented on this page represent 'provisional' results reported from various labs. Much of it has not been processed through the rigorous quality assurance procedures that are necessary prior to archiving the data or using it as a basis from which to produce reports or make decisions. Much of the data presented here will appear in a text format on your web browser. Before attempting to analyze the information, you will need to properly load it into your database or spreadsheet. For example, if you open one of these files from within Excel, you will need to tell Excel that the columns are delimited by tabs. If this procedure is not followed, the data may not be properly aligned in the appropriate columns. If you have any difficulty downloading these files, or cannot find the data you're seeking, please contact Zack Shelley at (970) 613-6163 or zshelley@btwatershed.org. 

A description and geographic coordinates for all flowing water quality sampling sites is located in the 'Sampling Site Codes and Descriptions' link listed below.  Geographic coordinates for reservoir sites have been withheld for security purposes.   The 'Map of Sampling Site Locations' link below provides the locations of many of Forum's sites from 2006-2008. The '3-D Watershed Map' link below illustrates the significant gradient changes in the Big Thompson watershed from the Continental Divide to the confluence with the South Platte River.         

Cooperative Monitoring Program

The Forum’s Cooperative Monitoring Program involves water quality sampling and analysis by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Fort Collins Water Quality Lab and Loveland Water Quality Lab. This is the most credible monitoring program the Forum coordinates due to the sampling and analysis Quality Assurance and Quality Control measures USGS puts in place.    

The Forum’s Cooperative Monitoring Program is designed to meet four objectives:

1. Assess the degree of compliance with existing and anticipated water quality or stream standards
   and classifications and/or screening thresholds for streams and lakes/reservoirs related to the beneficial uses of water in the watershed;

2. Collaborate with the City of Fort Collins and Greeley and the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District in assessing the trophic state of Carter Lake and Horsetooth Reservoir;

3. Assess the impact of feeder system source (Big Thompson River and tributaries, Lake Estes, the Dille Tunnel, canals, and groundwater) loadings to Carter Lake and Horsetooth Reservoir;

4. Assess the magnitude and statistical significance of temporal and spatial trends in ambient surface water quality constituents
   for both concentrations and mass loadings at select flowing monitoring sites in the Big Thompson Watershed.

In 2008, water samples will be collected and analyzed from 21 sites within the Big Thompson Watershed, including the Big Thompson River, North Fork of the Big Thompson River, Buckhorn Creek, and canal sites. Over 30 parameters are collected at each site, including nutrients, metals, pathogens and physical parameters. Water quality samples are collected throughout the year from flowing water sites and Horsetooth Reservoir.  In 2008, data from Horsetooth will be collected from the City of Fort Collins and USGS/Northern Water programs).

Data from the Cooperative Monitoring Program are divided into flowing water and Horsetooth Reservoir sites below. 

Volunteer Monitoring Data

The Forum developed a volunteer monitoring program in 1997 to establish baseline water quality conditions throughout the watershed. These sampling locations are volunteer sites developed by the Forum to fill in the gaps of the Cooperative Monitoring Program. Currently, 11 sites are sampled six times a year by volunteers trained by the Forum and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Sample sites are located in the Big Thompson River, the Little Thompson River and Glacier Creek.  EPA Region 8 laboratory in Golden, Colorado, analyzes 25 water quality constituents including nutrients, metals and bacteria in addition to physical parameters measured by the volunteers. 

Small Lakes Focus Group

The Small Lakes Focus Group was developed in 1998 to assess and improve the environmental quality of Silver and Equalizer Lakes and Houts Reservoir, located in Loveland. Through 2007, samples were collected on a bi-monthly basis during the summer and on a monthly basis throughout the rest of the year (as long as the lakes and reservoirs were not frozen).  Chemical and physical data including dissolved oxygen, pH, specific conductance and secchi depth are located below. Well-Spring Educational Products and Services and Phyto Finder analyzed algal density and biovolume samples and Colorado Watershed Network-River Watch analyzed nutrient samples for this program.   

Forum's Special Projects Monitoring Data

The Forum develops abbreviated monitoring programs to fulfill project needs.  Since these data do not fit into our Cooperative, Volunteer or Small Lakes Focus Group monitoring programs, they are listed here as Special Projects Monitoring Data. 

Mariano Exchange Ditch

The Mariano Exchange Ditch is an Improvement Project that the Forum started collecting data for in 1997.  This ditch, located in Loveland, along the Big Thompson Bike Path, runs during the agriculture season from approximately June through September.  While flowing, this ditch is known to discharge sediment laden water that is higher in temperature and nutrients than its receiving water, the Big Thompson River.  Phase I water quality data collected at multiple locations along the ditch and up and down stream of the confluence with the Big Thompson River are located below.  Phase II is awaiting funding.

Non-Forum Coordinated Data

An objective of the Forum is to provide access to water quality data or data that can be used in conjunction with water quality data to assess the status of the Big Thompson Watershed. In some cases, these data are provided by partners such as the United States Bureau of Reclamation or Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District and are not coordinated by the Forum. The following data sets are provided by the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) for the Colorado-Big Thompson Project.    

Daily Average Flow and Stage for the Colorado-Big Thompson Project

The Colorado-Big Thompson (C-BT) Project is a trans-mountain water diversion project completed in 1957 that brings water from Grand Lake on the west slope across to the Big Thompson River.  USBR provides a monthly report of the daily average flow and stage of sections the C-BT system.  The Forum subsets these data into sections of the C-BT system that can be correlated to our water quality monitoring programs.  

Each entire monthly report is also provided below. These files contain monitoring sites that are located throughout the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District boundary, including areas within the St. Vrain, Boulder and Poudre watersheds.

Big Thompson Watershed Forum

 Data Assessment and Reporting

The Forum develops project proposals to assess data from each of our monitoring programs. These assessments may be completed by Forum staff, contracted experts or experts that provide their services as an in-kind contribution. Whenever possible, complete, peer-reviewed reports will be provided below.    

Cooperative Monitoring Program

The Forum produced an annual Big Thompson Watershed Water Quality Report in 2003 and 2007. These reports included data from the Cooperative and Volunteer Monitoring Programs and any other data that met the minimum requirements for the reports. The first report, published in 2003, was titled Water Quality of the Upper Big Thompson Watershed and focused only on the upper Big Thompson Watershed, upstream of the mouth of the Big Thompson Canyon.  The second report, published in 2007, was titled Retrospective Analysis of Big Thompson Water Quality, 2001-2006, and focused on the entire Big Thompson Watershed.

Small Lakes Focus Group

Water quality data collected for the Small Lakes Focus Group have been translated into excel graphs below. 

Water quality reports for the High Plains Environmental Center (HPEC) were produced by the Forum after the 2002 and 2006 sampling seasons. These reports summarize the data collected at Houts Reservoir and Equalizer Lake.