Reconnaissance water quality appraisal of the Fountain Creek alluvial aquifer between Colorado Springs and Pueblo, Colorado, including trace elements and organic constituents
This report describes the hydrology and chemical quality of water in the stream-aquifer system along Fountain Creek and relates groundwater quality to land use, water use, and wastewater discharges. The alluvial aquifer, which is underlain by shale bedrock, is transmissive, extensively pumped, and primarily is recharged by Fountain Creek and irrigation-return flow. Groundwater flows south about 20 ft/day, average residence time is less than 10 yr. Land use primarily is urban in the northern one-third and agricultural in the southern two-thirds of the area. Major ions, boron, iron, lithium, selenium, strontium, and uranium increased in concentration downgradient. The largest concentrations of nitrogen and detergents were in the northern end of the area because of recharge of sewage effluent in Fountain Creek. Other trace elements usually were present in concentrations less than 20 mg/L. Volatile organic compounds were detected in water from 11 of 20 wells sampled. Samples from 4 of the 20 wells were analyzed for semivolatile organics using a closed-loop stripping technique, which detected additional compound at nanogram/L concentrations. 35 refs., 11 figs., 6 tabs.
- OSTI ID:
- 5685703
- Resource Relation:
- Related Information: USGS Water Resources Investigation Report 86-4085
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
COLORADO
WATER POLLUTION
GROUND WATER
CONTAMINATION
AQUIFERS
BORON
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
HYDROLOGY
IRON
LAND USE
LITHIUM
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
SELENIUM
STREAMS
STRONTIUM
TRACE AMOUNTS
URANIUM
VOLATILE MATTER
ACTINIDES
ALKALI METALS
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
ELEMENTS
FEDERAL REGION VIII
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MATTER
METALS
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
SEMIMETALS
SURFACE WATERS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
USA
WATER
540320* - Environment
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540330 - Environment
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