The Denver Basin Aquifer Framework

One of the largest geographic physical structures in the United States is the Colorado River. Human activity and its interaction with this great river have an interesting history. The resources provided by the river have been used by humans, and caused conflict for human populations as well. One of these conflicts is water distribution, and the effects drought conditions have played in this distribution throughout the southwestern region. Major cities such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other communities in the southwest depend on the river. It provides water for over 20 million people, irrigation for 2 million acres of land, four thousand megawatts of hydroelectric energy, and over twenty million annual visitors for

The Colorado River Basin starts in the Rocky Mountains and cuts through 1500 miles of canyon lands and deserts of seven US states and two Mexican states to supply a collection of dams and reservoirs with water to help irrigate cropland, support 40 million people, and provide hydroelectric power for the inland western United States [1,2]. From early settlement, rights over the river have been debated and reassigned to different states in the upper and lower basin; however, all the distribution patterns lead to excessive consumption of the resource. In 1922, the seven US states signed into the Colorado River Compact, which outlined the policy for the distribution rights to the water [3], however, this compact was written during an exceptionally

Groundwater is water that seeps through the ground and gets stored in aquifers. The supply of groundwater is always changing because it is constantly used and replenished. The groundwater supply replenishes and grows due to rain and snow melt and can decrease due to things like droughts and heavy usage. Depending on the type of surface of the ground as much as 20 percent of the rain and snow melt can seep into the ground or as little as 5 percent (Raymond, 1988). Areas where as much as

440). The main way for most aquifers to be recharged is through surface runoff. The rainfall sinks into the ground and percolates or accumulates to a common place (usually an aquifer). Yet this process takes lots of time. Scientists believe it may take centuries to refill some of the deeper aquifers. Water travels especially slow underground. It could take water up to 500 years to travel 15 meters. Aquifers are depended on for roughly 40% of California’s water supply. This number can escalate to 60% during droughts such as the one that just occurred.

Arizona has an incredibly large dependence on the Colorado River and groundwater. In fact, 39% of all water usage in Arizona is comprised of Colorado River water. Any dependence of that scale on any resource that originates in another area is always a major risk, as any major disaster or drastic change to the source of the river can cripple the state’s water supply. Furthermore, while Arizona does house the majority of the Lower Basin of the Colorado, the Colorado’s Upper Basin is shared between 4 other states, all with their own water needs and all with a susceptibility to drought. On the other hand, another 40% of all water Arizona uses is from groundwater sources. However, the Colorado River and these groundwater sources in the Colorado River basins have lost over 65 cubic kilometers of water over the last 9 years, with nearly 2/3 of it from groundwater loss due to over-pumping. This is because

Groundwater is the largest and most available usable source of drinking water in the state. There is a vast and mysterious system of caves and natural springs in North Central Florida. The cave system within the aquifer is one of the most amazing parts. The caves are remarkable in many ways. They are among the deepest and longest in the world, let alone the U.S. Another amazing aspect of the system is the purity of the water. The springs collectively produce billions of gallons of crystal clear water per day. The whole system stems from the Florida Aquifer that rests under the entire state. When most people think of Florida, they think of the weather and the beaches, but its the springs and the whole water

The Edwards Plateau is a plethora of various plant and animal species as well as picturesque landscapes making it a prime source of natural studies. But one thing in particular sticks out: the Edward Aquifer. It is the sole source of drinking water for the over million population of the city of San

The dust settled as the last vehicle departed the newly established ghost town. What was once a bustling rural community in eastern Colorado, complete with a school and church, and businesses off the main street, has become deserted due to a lack of water. This has become an all too familiar scene in rural communities across Colorado as the increasing demand for water and the dwindling water supply pits water users against one another. The state’s free market style of appropriating water, known as prior appropriation, allows for this highly competitive, and often detrimental situation to persist. As climate change and population growth continue to strain the water supply in Colorado, it will be necessary to adjust the strict prior appropriation

Abraham Lustgarten has written a very informative article that is published by Pro Publica and titled “How the West Overcounts Its Water Supplies.” In great detail, he analyzes the drought situation in Arizona and California to draw attention the underlying cause: the miscounting of available water. There is miscounting because officials are refusing to legally accept that the major water resource of the West—the Colorado River—is interconnected with underground water resources. All in all, Lustgarten writes a convincing article that effectively addresses the need for officials to recognize the interconnection of ground and surface water so that water shortage in the West can be better managed; he does this through his ability to gain the

Arizonans see California’s drought and water restrictions plastered all over the television and newspapers. Many Arizonans remain concerned about the well-being of Californians, while some may mistakenly think that it is not Arizona’s problem. I was one of those people, and while investigated the idea, discover how Arizona is in a bad situation because of it. What I, along with others, did not understand is the years of planning, legislation, and engineering that took place to get water to Arizona and the rest of the Southwest. The Southwest is an arid environment that relies on one river, the Colorado River, to deliver water to seven different

A mass curve and double mass curve were created for the Red Deer basin at Drumheller in 1964. Precipitation data was collected from the city of Drumheller, which is approximately 0.6 km from the river measurement. On average the greatest amount of precipitation occurred in May, June, and July, but there was a large spike in precipitation in the month of September. The lowest amount of precipitation occurred in January, February and October. The double mass curve for this basin has a large gradual increase. Runoff for this basin is always greater than precipitation, but there is an area of large run off and storage during the end of the curve. This could be due to the large amount of precipitation that occurred in September, and storage

Government officials and groups such as the Arizona Department of Water Resources seem confident in the progress thus far to conserve and store for the future. Arizona is one of the few western states considered to have a well-divided government organization when it comes to managing the above and underground water resources. The Key persons and groups in Government on this situation along with their role in Arizona water are as follows:

Groundwater is water that seeps through the ground and gets stored underground. The supply of groundwater is always changing because it is constantly used and replenished. The groundwater supply replenishes and grows due to rain and snow melt and can decrease due to things like droughts and heavy usage. Depending on the type of surface of the ground as much as 20 percent of the rain and snow melt can seep into the ground or as little as 5 percent (Raymond, 1988). Areas where as much as 20 percent of the water can

The Denver Water Board will provide a specific look at a rapidly growing system of water supply. What does planning look like to support the growing population. This will shed light on how well a single city is keeping up with water demands. How will the supply stay constant and will that supply keep the quality that people are used to? This will also look at our recreational

Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful to society and their uses include agriculture, industrial, household, recreational, and environmental activities. These underground water sources and above ground, including aquifers, streams, ponds, rivers, lakes, oceans, and any open-access source of water used by humans. Water is a public good and a common pool resource and there is a lot of trouble with it because no one can fully regulate what people do with it behind closed doors or when no one is watching. Because of pollution, we are also losing usable fresh water, by either contamination of sources or large amounts of water being polluted themselves. The problem with injection wells is that they do both of these