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87 percent of the water leaving Colorado flows out of the Colorado river basin toward the Pacific Ocean. The remaining 13 percent of the water leaving Colorado flows out of the Missouri, Arkansas, and Rio Grande river basins toward the Atlantic Ocean.
Producing a typical lunch--hamburger, french fries, and a soft drink--uses 1500 gallons of water. This includes the water needed to raise the potatoes, the grain for the bun and the grain needed to feed the cattle, and the production of the soda.
From March 26 through April 7, 1996, the Bureau of Reclamation released water at rates of up to 45,000 cubic feet per second from the Glen Canyon Dam. The controlled flood was created in an effort to restore beaches and habitat in the Grand Canyon. View selected photos from the controlled flood at the USGS Web site.
The natural rotation of the Earth has been altered slightly by the 10 trillion tons of water stored in reservoirs over the past 40 years, according to NASA. For more information, link to U.S. Water News
The Platte River, whose name means "flat," was named by early French trappers and explorers. The Native Americans in the region called it Nibraskier, a similar word for "flat."
The hottest spring water in the state (82 degrees Celsius, 180 degrees Fahrenheit) is found in Hortense Hot Springs in Chaffee County. The largest hot spring in Colorado is Big Spring in Glenwood Springs with a maximum discharge greater than 2,200 gallons per minute.
American Rivers named the Animas River in southwestern Colorado one of the "most endangered rivers" in the United States and named La Poudre Pass Creek near Rocky Mountain National Park one of the "most threatened rivers" in the United States.
For more information, link to the American Rivers Web site.
In May 1935, 10 miles south of Kiowa, 24 inches of rain fell in 6 hours.
Grand Lake is 265 feet deep--the deepest natural lake in Colorado.
From 1820 to 1846, the boundary of the United States with Mexico was the Arkansas River.
Wolford Reservoir, 7 miles north of Kremmling, opened to the public over Memorial Day weekend. The 5 1/2 mile long reservoir covers 1,440 acres, has a capacity of 56,000 acre-feet, and cost $42 million to build.
89 % of Colorado's naturally occurring lakes are found at altitudes above 9,000 feet.
Aurora water officials have a plan to turn two high-country aquifers outside the Denver area into water bank accounts for the city. For more information, link to U.S. Water News.
The average humidity for Colorado, measured at noon, is 38%.
There are more than 9,000 miles of streams and 2,000 lakes and reservoirs open to fishing in Colorado.
A dry wash or ephemeral stream flows during and for short times after rain or snowmelt. Other names for a dry wash include: draw, gully, swale, arroyo, and gulch.
South Platte water is used in the following ways: 10 percent for city and industrial use, 65 percent for irrigation and three percent for reservoir evaporation. Twenty-two percent leaves the state.
In Colorado's peatlands or "fens," peat forms at an average rate of eight inches every 1000 years.
July 31 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Big Thompson Flood. The worst natural disaster in Colorado history, the flood claimed 145 lives.
On August 2, Congress reauthorized the Safe Drinking Water Act. The legislation toughens federal regulations that protect drinking water. The bill authorizes $7.6 billion dollars over seven years to help improve deteriorating water systems. The bill requires water authorities to disclose what chemicals and bacteria are in drinking water. It requires authorities to notify the public within 24 hours when a dangerous contaminant is found. The bill also requires the EPA to establish more stringent standards to fight cryptosporidium.
Over 1,300 miles of streams in Colorado are impacted by metals as a result of acid mine drainage.
The Nile perch has wiped out nearly all the other species of fish in Lake Victoria, Africa since its introduction in the 1960s.
Colorado contains 13 different streams named Clear Creek.
Water in Colorado must be diverted for a purpose and used beneficially. Beneficial use is the use of a reasonable amount of water necessary to accomplish the purpose of the appropriation, without waste. Some common types of beneficial use are: domestic, irrigation, municipal, wildlife, recreation, and mining.
Forty-eight million people in the United States receive their drinking water from private or household wells.
In the United States, approximately 500,000 tons of pollutants pour into lakes and rivers each day.
An acre-foot of water is enough to flood the infield at Coors Field to a depth of 5.4 feet.
Nationwide, about 11% of pollution in rivers comes from storm sewers and urban runoff.
Four quarts of oil can cause an eight-acre oil slick if spilled or dumped down a storm sewer!
The maximum 24-hour snowfall in the United States is 75.8 inches at Silver Lake in the mountains west of Boulder. The storm occurred on April 14-15, 1921.
Natural hot springs contribute 500,000 tons of dissolved solids (15 percent of the total salinity) to streams in the Upper Colorado River Basin each year.
Each year, 15 million raindrops strike each square foot of land in the Denver area. Each raindrop that hits the ground dislodges soil particles. These soil particles (sediment) contribute to water pollution.
In 1993, interbasin water transfers conveyed 585,000 acre-feet of water from the Upper Colorado River Basin to the South Platte, Rio Grande and Arkansas river basins.
The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District has two turfgrass demonstration plots focused on promoting urban water conservation. The first plot, located at the intersection of Airport and Quail roads in Longmont, features 14 different varieties of grasses covering 20,000 square feet. The second plot, at Conservancy headquarters in Loveland, is part of a turfgrass fertilization study.
The San Luis People's Ditch, in operation since its construction in 1852, is the oldest irrigation system in continuous use in Colorado. The ditch is located at 8000 feet in elevation and is supplied with water by Culebra Creek. Originally, the land adjacent to the ditch was divided into strips approximately 100 yards wide and 16 to 20 miles long. This allowed settlers to have irrigated farmland near the ditch and also have access to range and timber land. Today, the ditch is 4 miles long and irrigates 1600 acres of farmland.
Graupel is snowflakes that have become small rounded pellets (usually two to five millimeters in diameter). It is sometimes mistaken for hail.
Wash your car in the car wash rather than in your driveway. Car washes are connected to water treatment systems that can handle the oil and other contaminants that rinse off of your car. If you wash your car in the driveway, these chemicals run into storm sewers which may discharge directly into a stream. Storm sewers are not equipped with the treatment facilities to handle these pollutants.
Rime is the ice that forms when supercooled water droplets freeze on contact with an object.
The Incredible Journey of the Greenback Cutthroats, a video account of the history and status of the greenback cutthroat trout in Colorado, is available from the Colorado Wildlife Heritage Foundation, for $16.95. To obtain this wonderful video, send a check to 6060 Broadway, Denver, CO 80216.
Colorado and Kansas officials are nearing agreement on a plan to replenish the Arkansas River water lost to groundwater use in Colorado. For more information, link to U.S. Water News.
An augmentation plan is a way for junior appropriators to obtain water supplies through terms and conditions approved by a water court that protects senior water rights from the depletions caused by the new diversions. Typically will involve storing junior water when in priority and releasing that water when a call comes on, purchasing stored waters from federal entities or others to release when a river call comes on, or purchasing senior irrigation water rights and changing the use of those rights to off-set the new user's injury to the stream. These plans can be very complex and it is suggested that an engineering consultant be hired to allow for proper consideration of all hydrologic and water right factors.
You can find out more about water in Colorado by linking to the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute.
Fresh, uncompacted snow is usually 90-95 percent trapped air.
Ozone gas is the only known disinfectant that works against the cryptosporidium parasite in drinking water.
Denver has an average annual snowfall of 60.7 inches. The snowiest season on record occurred in 1908-1909, with 118.7 inches of snow.
Avalanches killed 914 people in the United States between 1900 and 1995.
Want to know how much an acre-foot of water is worth in your region? Link to U. S. Water News and find out!
For information about flooding in Colorado, link to Colorado flooding information.
Once evaporated, a water molecule spends ten days in the air.
The most acidic snow in the Rocky Mountains falls in northern Colorado in and near the Mount Zirkel Wilderness Area.
Selected by the sciLINKS program,
a service of the National Science Teachers Association.
Copyright 2001.