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State of the Watershed:Boulder Creek, Colorado
Sheila Murphy
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• Citizens’ guide to water quality past, present, future
• Informs Boulder’s Water Quality Strategic Plan
State of the Boulder Creek Watershed report
http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/circ1284/
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South Platte River Watershed
Boulder Creek Watershed
Mississippi River Watershed
Watershed: the area of land that drains into a water body
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Boulder Creek Watershed
MAXIMUMELEVATION
4120 M
MINIMUMELEVATION
1480 M
CRETACEOUS SEDIMENTARY
PRECAMBRIAN GRANITE
PRECAMBRIAN METAMORPHIC
PLAINS
Climatic/ecological zones
Geology
FOOTHILLSMONTANESUBALPINEALPINE
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From USGS National land cover data set
Land cover (1992)
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Precipitation
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Average daily discharge of Boulder Creek at Orodell gage, 1994-2004
0
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YEAR
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-199
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June 2000
Discharge
October 2000
Width of blue line represents discharge
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Water quality:
The chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water, usually in respect to its suitability for a particular purpose
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“Water quality” can include:
• Basic water quality variables (pH, dissolved oxygen)
• Nutrients (phosphate, nitrate)
• Bacteria
• Trace metals (mercury, lead)
• Pesticides
• “Emerging contaminants” (wastewater-derived organic compounds)
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Water quality regulations
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Water quality from top to bottom
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Water quality from top to bottom
Headwaters & mountains
• Best water quality
• Old mines not impacting water quality of most streams
• Atmospheric deposition of nitrogen can decrease pH & act as fertilizer
• Possible water quality concerns: Nederland WWTP, septic systems, recreation, road runoff
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Water quality from top to bottom
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• Diversions remove much of the water from the creek
• High percentage of impervious surfaces
• Boulder Creek within Boulder on Colorado’s 303(d) list for E. coli bacteria
• Arsenic, lead, and copper highest in Boulder Creek during large storms
Water quality from top to bottom
Urban
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Water quality from top to bottom
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• Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) discharges ~17 million gallons per day to creek
• WWTP effluent comprises 10-75% of the flow in the creek
• WWTP contributes nutrients and organic contaminants to creek
• Pollutant concentrations in creek typically lowest in early summer
Water quality from top to bottom
Lower Boulder Creek
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Wastewater compounds found in Boulder Creek
• Metal-complexing agents (e.g., EDTA)
• Surfactants (nonylphenol)
• Plasticizers (bisphenol A)
• Antimicrobials (triclosan)
• Steroids (cholesterol)
• Natural & synthetic hormones (estrogens)
• Pharmaceutical drugs (codeine, caffeine, ibuprofen)
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Water quality from top to bottom
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• Diversions remove much of water (and pollutants) from creek
• pH and dissolved oxygen fluctuate widely
• High pH and temperature causes ammonia to shift to un-ionized ammonia gas, which is toxic to fish
Water quality from top to bottom
Lower Boulder Creek
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Problems with evaluating long-term water quality changes:
• Very little water quality data collected before 1960s
• Different water quality parameters measured in the past and today
• Analysis methods usually not given
From Ford and Moore, 1904
• Estimate effects of dominant land and water uses
• Number of cases of waterborne disease
• Anecdotes and articles about water taste, smell, and appearance
Solutions:
1905 to 1920 headlines from Boulder News-Herald
Analysis of historical water quality
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Water quality: Pre-1858
Photograph copyright Denver Public Library
• First evidence of humans in Colorado: 14,000 BC
• Until 1800s AD, sparsely populated by Native Americans, who had little impact on landscape
• Early 1800s: explorers and beaver trappers
• Gold discovered in 1859; Gold Hill and Boulder founded
• Settlers described Boulder Creek as “pure” and “full of fish”
Boulder, Colorado, circa 1870
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Water development
Copyright Denver Public Library
• Settlers quickly realized Colorado’s dry climate required extensive water management to water crops and to have water year-round
• First ditch decree filed on Boulder Creek in 1859 (oldest in South Platte Watershed)
• Water diverted for domestic use, crop irrigation, mining
• Reservoirs built to provide year-round water supply
Irrigation in Colorado; from Harper’s Weekly, 1874
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• Before 1875, Boulder residents carried water (untreated) from Boulder Creek, ditches, or shallow wells
• Early settlers discharged sewage (untreated) to outhouses and cesspools
• CO State Board of Health, 1877: “In rapidly growing towns the construction of sewers is often delayed until the subsoil is thoroughly saturated with disease-breeding filth.”
South Boulder School, Eldorado Springs, ~1890, with outhouse in background
Water quality: 1860s-1890s
Photograph courtesy Carnegie Branch Library for Local History, Boulder Historical Society Collection
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Water quality: 1860s-1890s
Photograph courtesy Carnegie Branch Library for Local History, Boulder Historical Society Collection
• Dozens of gold & silver mines and mills, using chlorine, mercury, cyanide; chemicals and tailings discharged directly to creeks
• Mining followed by forest fires, timber harvesting & tie drives, causing erosion
• Boulder Creek described as having “a milk-like turbidity” which when consumed gave the “sensation of swallowing rope”
Placer mining on Fourmile Creek, circa 1890
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Mining & water supply- Boulder Creek
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Mining & water supply- Boulder Creek
Annual production of Boulder County (from USGS & Bureau of Mines)
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Mining & water supply- Boulder Creek
Annual production of Boulder County (from USGS & Bureau of Mines)
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Mining & water supply- Boulder Creek
Annual production of Boulder County (from USGS & Bureau of Mines)
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Annual production of Boulder County (from USGS & Bureau of Mines)
Mining & water supply- Boulder Creek
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Mining & water supply- Boulder Creek
Annual production of Boulder County (from USGS & Bureau of Mines)
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• Boulder built first sewer line in 1895; discharged to settling basin, then to creek (at Scott Carpenter Park)
• Farmers downstream complained about sewage in creek
Typhoid cases in Boulder County, 1902-1980 (includes deaths)
Water quality: 1890s-1930s
• Typhoid tied to water contaminated by human waste ~1900
• Colorado began requiring reporting of typhoid in 1902
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Water quality: 1930s-1950s
• Boulder’s first WWTP built in 1934; ineffective
From Chapman, 1934
Annual death rate in Coloradofrom typhoid fever, 1929-1931
• Other states boycotted South Platte Valley produce because crops irrigated with sewage
• 1948 Water Pollution Control Act: states responsible for control of water pollution
• New WWTP in 1957; quickly overloaded due to rapid population growth
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Water quality: 1960s-1970s
• 1967 US Dept. of Interior study found Boulder Creek severely polluted, murky and gray, no fish below WWTP
• New WWTP in 1968, upgraded every few years
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency est. 1970
• 1972 Clean Water Act required dischargers to meet water quality standards
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Human waste and urban growth
1937
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Human waste and urban growth
1957
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Human waste and urban growth
1977
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Human waste and urban growth
1997
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Water quality: 1990s-today• Lower Boulder Creek on CO’s list of
impaired waters for un-ionized ammonia in 1992; Boulder WWTP upgraded to reduce ammonia discharged to creek
• Boulder Creek within Boulder on CO’s list of impaired waters for E coli in 2004
• Invasive species
• Hormones, steroids, drugs found below WWTP
• Reproductive disruption found in fish below WWTP; high female:male ratio
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For more information…
Boulder Area Sustainability Information Network: www.BASIN.org
U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Discipline: http://water.usgs.gov