Breaking Surface: A Watershed Blog

Upper South Platte Watershed The regional South Platte Watershed is broken down into three watershed districts; the Upper South Platte Watershed, MIddle South Platt Watershed, and Lower South Platte Watershed.  The Upper South Platte Watershed is located southwest of Denver, Colorado. The watershed varies in elevation from approximately 6,000 feet to over 14,000 feet above sea level and contains five major municipal and several smaller reservoirs (Coalition for the Upper South Platte Watershed, 2020).  At approximately 645,00 acres, the watershed covers approximately 525,000 acres of the Pike National Forest, 16,000 acres of City of Denver Water land, 4,000 acres of State of Colorado land, and 100,000 acres of private land. Serving 15 Colorado Counties, The Upper South Platte Watershed is critical to downstream water users as over 80% of the water supplies over 1.5 million people in the Denver metropolitan area.  The South Platte River is one of Colorado’s finest trout streams.  Home t

Upper South Platte Watershed Drought  The Upper South Platte Watershed has a continental-type climate modified by topography, in which there are large temperature ranges and irregular seasonal and annual precipitation. Areas along the Continental Divide average 30" or more of precipitation annually, which includes snowfall in excess of 25'. In contrast, the annual precipitation on the plains east of Denver, Colorado, and in the South Park area in the southwest part of the basin, ranges from 7" to 15" (USGS, 1995). Most of the precipitation on the plains occurs as rain, which typically falls between April and September, whereas most of the precipitation in the mountains occurs as snow, which typically falls between October and March. With its beautiful lush green vegetation and mild weather, most assume that Colorado is a well balanced state. The truth is that Colorado is a dry state.  Droughts regularly occur in the Upper South Platte Watershed as with the rest of Co

The South Platte Watershed has 20 active organizations whose mission is to protect water sources and other natural resources of the local areas. Below, is a list, short description, and website link to current organizations provided by The Colorado Water Assembly .

Upper South Platte Watershed is highly important as it provides approximately 80% of the water used by 1.5 million Denver metropolitan residents. Most of the Upper South Platte Watershed is located within the Pike National Forest southwest of the city of Denver. This area is known to experience severe droughts and high wildfire risk. Due to its reliability as a drinking water source for the Denver metropolitan area, the watershed has been identified by the  Colorado Unified Assessment  as a critical watershed in need of restoration. In addition, due to its location within the Pike National Forest, the Upper South Platte Watershed is critical to Colorado as it faces many threats and challenges. 

The Upper South Platte Watershed is subject to many different sources and types of pollution. According to the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE), the two primary causes of non-point source pollution in the Upper South Platte Watershed are city drainage and sedimentation. Chemical testing measures the concentration of dissolved and suspended substances in the water. These substances may be naturally occurring or introduced pollutants. Chemical testing only reveals a snapshot of what is occurring in the watershed at the time that the testing occurs. From this information, it can be determined if there are any pollutants such as fertilizers, sewage, drainage, etc., introduced into the water. It can also determine the natural constituents of the watershed such as oxygen levels, alkalinity, turbidity, etc. CDPHE utilizes LaMotte water quality testing kits. Upper South Platte Watershed Common Sources of Chemical Pollutants Farmland/Residential Lawns – higher turb

The Colorado Noxious Weed Act directs the Department of Agriculture to develop and implement management plans for all List A and List B noxious weed species. These management plans are regularly reviewed, updated and detailed in the Rules Pertaining to the Administration and Enforcement of the Colorado Noxious Weed Act, or the Noxious Weed Rule for short (8 CCR 1206-2). 

  The Great Colorado Flood  Between 9 and 6 September 2013, heavy rainfall exceeding 450 mm, fell over large region of the Colorado Front Range foothills and adjacent plains. The rainfall was the most intense, widespread, and persistent rainfall along the Front Range occurred on 11 and 12 September. Flooding from rainfall in the mountain canyons is not an uncommon phenmenon. However, the 2013 floods were by far exceptional. Not only were flooding impacts felt in narrow mountain canyons, but flooding across the Front Range combined into a large-scale, multistate flood event as tributary waters swelled and flowed down the South Platte River onto the high plains across northeast Colorado and into Nebraska. Several precipitation records were broken during the Great Colorado Flood. A USGS rain gauge at the ARMY base (Fort Carson), accumulated 301 mm of rain in a 24 hour period. The accumulation established a new daily rainfall extreme for the entire state of Colorado surpassing the long-sta