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U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Status of water-level network, Elbert County Colorado, September, 2016 By Rhett R. Everett Memo September 29, 2016 ---PAGE BREAK--- ii Contents Contents ii Project Status -Overview 1 Project Status -Detail 2 Elbert County Water Use 9 Elbert County Well Permits 10 Elbert County Water Level Data 10 NWISWeb 11 Publications Relevant to Elbert County 13 ---PAGE BREAK--- iii Abbreviations ARAP Well completed in the Arapahoe aquifer ARAPMAS Well completed in the Arapahoe aquifer CDWR Colorado Division of Water Resources DAWMAS Well completed in the Dawson (upper of lower) aquifer DENV Well completed in the Denver aquifer LARA Well completed in the Laramie Fox-Hills aquifer LDAW Well completed in the lower Dawson aquifer NAWQA National Water-Quality Assessment NWIS National Water Information System NWISWeb National Water Information System Web interface UDAW Well completed in the upper Dawson aquifer USGS U.S. Geological Survey ---PAGE BREAK--- 1 Status of water-level network, Elbert County Colorado, February, 2016 By Rhett R. Everett Project Status -Overview The project is progressing as scheduled and on budget. Started soliciting volunteers and measuring water levels in January 2015. Completed in April 2015. Currently 41 wells in the network (11 upper Dawson, 10 lower Dawson, 6 Denver, 9 Arapahoe, 5 Laramie Fox Hills) *contract with CWCB states 30 wells will be monitored! Water levels are measured (February, April, June, August, October, and December) Water levels are measured to the 100th of a foot To date (9/29/16) 486 manual water-level measurements have been made for this project Transducers are currently installed in 6 wells, (2 upper Dawson, 2 lower Dawson, 1 Denver, 0 Arapahoe, 1 Laramie Fox Hills) To date (9/29/16) more than 52,000 automated readings have been collected GPS Survey of well head elevation scheduled to be completed early spring of 2017 Water level data is available on the USGS web site http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis See NWIS Web section at the end of the report ---PAGE BREAK--- 2 Project Status -Detail Project activities are progressing as scheduled and on budget. Soliciting well owners began in January 2015 and was completed in April 2015. Fourth-two wells were selected for the network (11 upper Dawson, 10 lower Dawson, 7 Denver, 9 Arapahoe, and 5 Laramie Fox Hills) (fig. In August 2016, one Denver well (DENV 13) was dropped from the network when the residence was sold and the new owner declined to continue participation in the study. Water level measurements began in February 2015 and have been measured since. To date (9/29/16) 486 manual water-level measurements have been made for this project. Pressure transducer instrumentation is installed in six wells (2 upper Dawson, 2 lower Dawson, 1 Denver, 0 Arapahoe, and 1 Laramie Fox Hills) (fig. The first transducer was installed in August 2015; the last transducer was installed in February 2016. The pressure transducers automatically record an hourly water level measurement. To date (9/29/16) more than 52,000 automated readings have been collected. Water level data collection is scheduled to continue through February 2018All water level measurements are made available to the public on the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) web site at http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis. Twelve of the wells in the network have water levels previously measures by the USGS, most in 2004/2005. A comparison of the water levels measured in 2004/2005 with those measured in April 2015 show no per annum change in water level in the upper Dawson wells, a rise of 0.7 ft/year in the lower Dawson wells, a decline of 3.1 ft/year in the Denver wells, a decline of 0.3 ft/year in the Arapahoe wells, and a decline of 0.6 ft/year in the Laramie-Fox Hills wells (table All of the wells in the network have water levels reported on the Well Completion and Pump Installation Report (“driller’s logs”) submitted to the State by the driller or pump installer immediately after the well was constructed. In some cases, the driller’s depth to water may be estimated, as the ---PAGE BREAK--- 3 values are reported to the tens of feet; this could introduce error into the calculated change when compared with water levels measured to the hundredth of a foot. However, a comparison of water levels reported on driller’s logs with the initial manual water level measured by USGS show a decline of 0.5 ft/year in the upper Dawson wells, a rise of 2.0 ft/year in the lower Dawson wells, a decline of 0.3 ft/year in the Denver wells, a decline of 0.2 ft/year in the Arapahoe, and a rise of 0.8 ft/year in the Laramie-Fox Hills wells (table Comparison of all year-to-year changes (2015 to 2016) in manual water-level measurements for all wells show a rise of 0.4 ft in the upper Dawson wells, a decline of 0.7 ft in the lower Dawson wells, a rise of 0.1 ft in the Denver wells, a rise of 0.2 ft in the Arapahoe wells, and a rise of 0.8 ft/year in the Laramie-Fox Hills wells (table The high-precision GPS survey originally scheduled for the spring of 2016 was delayed. It is scheduled for the spring of 2017. ---PAGE BREAK--- 4 Figure 1. Location of well sites in the water-level monitoring network, Elbert County, Colorado ---PAGE BREAK--- 5 Table 1: Comparison of historic USGS water levels with measurements from April 2015 Aquifer Site name Date Depth to water (ft) Date Depth to water (ft) Change in water level (ft) decline; rise) Per Annun Change in water level (ft) decline; rise) Upper Dawson UDAW 17 7/24/1978 187.5 4/9/2015 191.88 -4.38 -0.12 DAWMAS22 11/22/2004 166.58 4/2/2015 166.47 0.11 0.01 DAWMAS26 12/7/2004 349.77 4/2/2015 348.79 0.98 0.10 average: -1.1 0.0 Lower Dawson DAWMAS16 11/17/2004 284.01 4/2/2015 264.08 19.93 1.95 DAWMAS21 11/16/2004 97.6 4/9/2015 87.29 10.31 1.01 DAWMAS28 12/14/2004 254.66 4/2/2015 262.17 -7.51 -0.74 average: 7.58 0.7 Denver DENV 16 10/18/1982 82.78 4/9/2015 81.95 0.83 0.03 DENMAS05 12/29/2005 242.34 4/3/2015 300 -57.66 -6.31 average: -28.42 -3.1 Arapahoe ARAPMAS22 7/1/2005 310.08 4/3/2015 309.33 0.75 0.08 ARAPMAS27 7/14/2005 47.97 4/9/2015 57.29 -9.32 -0.97 ARAPMAS28 7/14/2005 205.01 4/3/2015 205.92 -0.91 -0.09 average: -3.16 -0.3 Laramie Fox-Hills LARA 7 8/30/1983 119.27 4/9/2015 136.94 -17.67 -0.57 average: -17.67 -0.6 ---PAGE BREAK--- 6 Table 2: Comparison of driller reported water levels with USGS water level measurements from April 2015 Initial water level (reported by driller) Water level measured by USGS Site name Date Depth to water (ft) Date Depth to water (ft) Change in water level (ft) decline; rise) Per Annun Change in water level (ft) decline; rise) UDAW 11 1/24/1989 70 4/10/2015 96 -26 -1.01 UDAW 12 3/1/1970 185 4/9/2015 173 12 0.27 UDAW 13 2/27/1998 150 4/10/2015 164 -14 -0.83 UDAW 14 8/20/1981 186 4/2/2015 184 2 0.06 UDAW 15 10/6/1993 170 4/10/2015 188 -18 -0.85 UDAW 16 4/21/1981 151 4/9/2015 184 -33 -0.99 UDAW 17 2/22/1975 183 4/9/2015 192 -9 -0.23 UDAW 18 9/23/1985 120 2/7/2015 162 -42 -1.45 UDAW 19 3/17/2005 260 4/2/2015 264 -4 -0.40 DAWMAS22 U 11/22/1995 170 4/2/2015 166 4 0.21 DAWMAS26 U 5/18/1994 332 4/2/2015 349 -17 -0.83 average: -13.2 -0.5 LDAW 12 4/21/1992 140 4/2/2015 161 -21 -0.93 LDAW 13 1/13/1998 120 4/10/2015 123 -3 -0.18 LDAW 14 11/10/1994 200 4/9/2015 149 51 2.53 LDAW 15 8/4/1995 200 4/2/2015 198 2 0.10 LDAW 16 4/22/2003 230 4/2/2015 148 82 6.96 DAWMAS16 10/1/1996 380 4/2/2015 264 116 6.36 DAWMAS19 12/4/1993 200 4/10/2015 211 -11 -0.52 DAWMAS21 11/3/1993 190 4/9/2015 87 103 4.87 DAWMAS27 6/13/2001 290 4/2/2015 271 19 1.40 DAWMAS28 6/2/1977 238 4/2/2015 262 -24 -0.64 average: 31.4 2 DENV 12 4/23/2007 110 4/3/2015 114 -4 -0.51 DENV 13 3/26/2004 270 4/10/2015 332 -62 -5.69 DENV 14 3/26/2007 320 4/2/2015 240 80 10.12 DENV 15 10/24/1997 50 4/3/2015 143 -93 -5.41 DENV 16 5/16/1961 110 4/9/2015 82 28 0.53 DENV 17 2/18/2000 350 4/9/2015 258 92 6.16 DENMAS05 3/27/1996 165 4/3/2015 300 -135 -7.20 average: -13.4 -0.3 ---PAGE BREAK--- 7 ARAP 3 4/28/2000 110 4/3/2015 108 2 0.14 ARAP 4 12/13/1995 45 4/3/2015 51 -6 -0.32 ARAP 5 2/28/1981 320 4/3/2015 334 -14 -0.42 ARAP 6 11/20/2002 160 4/3/2015 293 -133 -10.90 ARAP 7 5/5/2005 153 4/9/2015 147 6 0.61 ARAP 8 3/11/2013 390 4/9/2015 377 13 6.34 ARAPMAS22 11/16/1998 340 4/3/2015 309 31 1.92 ARAPMAS27 1/28/2004 70 4/9/2015 57 13 1.18 ARAPMAS28 3/8/1996 195 4/3/2015 206 -11 -0.58 average: -11.0 -0.2 LARA 3 9/27/2006 100 4/3/2015 85 15 1.79 LARA 4 11/6/2002 80 4/3/2015 80 0 0.00 LARA 5 11/10/1999 200 4/9/2015 140 60 3.95 LARA 6 10/22/2001 130 4/9/2015 145 -15 -1.13 LARA 7 12/9/1965 108 4/9/2015 137 -29 -0.60 average: 6.2 0.8 Table 3: Comparison of water levels Spring 2015 and spring 2016 Site name Date Depth to water (ft) Date Depth to water (ft) Change in water level (ft) decline; rise) UDAW 11 1/30/2015 97.17 2/25/2016 95.99 1.18 UDAW 12 1/29/2015 173.48 2/19/2016 172.78 0.7 UDAW 13 3/13/2015 162.85 2/25/2016 163.44 -0.59 UDAW 14 2/7/2015 183.70 2/19/2016 183.34 0.36 UDAW 15 3/13/2015 189.34 2/19/2016 189.06 0.28 UDAW 16 1/18/2015 183.92 2/19/2016 182.05 1.87 UDAW 17 1/29/2015 191.97 2/19/2016 192.30 -0.33 UDAW 18 2/7/2015 162.18 2/19/2016 161.87 0.31 UDAW 19 4/2/2015 263.81 2/15/2016 263.60 0.21 DAWMAS22 2/21/2015 166.13 2/15/2016 166.18 -0.05 DAWMAS26 2/20/2015 348.75 2/15/2016 348.73 0.02 average: 0.4 ---PAGE BREAK--- 8 LDAW 12 3/13/2015 161.73 2/19/2016 166.33 -4.6 LDAW 13 2/21/2015 124.36 2/19/2016 124.77 -0.41 LDAW 14 1/18/2015 149.27 2/19/2016 148.32 0.95 LDAW 15 2/7/2015 203.12 2/15/2016 200.65 2.47 LDAW 16 4/2/2015 147.82 2/15/2016 148.41 -0.59 DAWMAS16 2/21/2015 263.70 2/15/2016 263.40 0.3 DAWMAS19 3/13/2015 211.82 2/25/2016 211.98 -0.16 DAWMAS21 1/31/2015 90.19 2/19/2016 92.09 -1.9 DAWMAS27 3/13/2015 270.46 2/15/2016 270.38 0.1 DAWMAS28 2/9/2015 262.10 2/15/2016 264.85 -2.75 average: -0.7 DENV 12 3/14/2015 114.18 2/11/2016 114.02 0.2 DENV 13 1/30/2015 334.63 2/19/2016 333.10 1.53 DENV 14 2/9/2015 240.71 2/15/2016 239.08 1.63 DENV 15 3/21/2015 140.94 2/11/2016 139.95 0.99 DENV 16 4/9/2015 81.94 2/25/2016 82.28 -0.34 DENV 17 2/20/2015 259.27 2/12/2016 260.69 -1.42 DENMAS05 3/5/2015 246.21 2/12/2016 248.40 -2.2 average: 0.1 ARAP 3 4/3/2015 107.82 2/11/2016 106.57 1.25 ARAP 4 3/14/2015 51.39 2/11/2016 50.77 0.62 ARAP 5 1/31/2015 334.12 2/11/2016 333.86 0.26 ARAP 6 3/7/2015 292.77 2/11/2016 292.65 0.12 ARAP 7 3/14/2015 146.87 2/12/2016 146.83 0.04 ARAP 8 2/20/2015 377.52 2/12/2016 377.60 -0.08 ARAPMAS22 3/20/2015 309.59 2/12/2016 311.17 -1.58 ARAPMAS27 3/21/2015 57.19 2/12/2016 56.59 0.6 ARAPMAS28 1/31/2015 205.69 2/11/2016 205.61 0.08 average: 0.2 LARA 3 3/5/2015 82.31 2/11/2016 82.11 0.2 LARA 4 4/3/2015 80.25 2/11/2016 75.81 4.44 LARA 5 2/27/2015 140.15 2/12/2016 140.05 0.1 LARA 6 4/9/2015 144.77 2/12/2016 144.58 0.19 LARA 7 3/7/2015 135.81 2/12/2016 136.92 -1.11 average: 0.8 ---PAGE BREAK--- 9 Elbert County Water Use All data in this section is from Ivahnenko, Tamara, and J.L., 2010, Estimated withdrawals and use of water in Colorado, 2005: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010– 5002, 61 p. A 1,538-mi2 portion of eastern Elbert County is underlain by the Denver Basin aquifer system, and groundwater pumped from the aquifers is the primary source of municipal and domestic water supply. Estimated Percentage of the Withdrawal from the Denver Basin in 2005 for Elbert County: 4% Estimated Percentage of the Total Withdrawal from the Denver Basin in 2005 for Elbert County: Alluvial- upper Dawson- 33%, lower Dawson- 14%, Denver- Arapahoe- Laramie-Fox Hills- 1% Estimated Water Use in 2005 for Elbert County- 29.43 Mgal/d: Public Supply- 20.82 Mgal/day- 71%; Irrigation- 4.24 Mgal/day- 14%; Domestic/Livestock- 3.54 Mgal/day- 12%; Commercial- 0.75 Mgal/day- Household (domestic)- 0.08 Mgal/day- Estimated Water Use in 2005 for Elbert County-29.43 Mgal/d: Alluvial- upper Dawson- 20%; lower Dawson- 25%; Denver- 27%; Arapahoe- 17%; Laramie-Fox Hills- ---PAGE BREAK--- 10 Elbert County Well Permits Over 14,600 Permit Events in Elbert County Approximately 5,500 events are not valid wells: 461- Outside Elbert County; 461- Outside Elbert County; 557- Abandoned; 2,247 Extended or Unknown; 658- No Status Remarks 9,311 Active Wells in Elbert County; 7,249 Domestic; 1,446 Stock; 235 Irrigation; 47 Municipal; 289 “Other” 5,096 Wells with Complete Records: 53 Alluvial- 2,875 upper Dawson- 56%; 550 lower Dawson- 11%; 931 Denver- 18%; 427 Arapahoe- 260 Laramie-Fox Hills- 5% Elbert County Water Level Data See ElbertCounty_InitialWaterLevels.xls for summary of water level changes Began water level measurements in Jan 2015 14 of the wells in the current network have water levels previously measures by the USGS, most in 2004/2005 To date (9/29/16) 486 manual water-level measurements have been made for this project For most wells the water level in June 2015 was higher than February 2015- average 0.30 ft higher. This is not typical, water levels usually decline during the summer months. All wells have at least one reported water level measured by the driller when the well was drilled Pressure transducers with data recorders are installed in 6 wells. They hourly water level measurements will be available on the web in the near future. Wells with Water Level Data: Municipal Wells (48), DWR Network (27), USGS (>200) ---PAGE BREAK--- 11 Division of Water Resources 2014 Report http://dwrweblink.state.co.us/dwrweblink/0/doc/2769958/Electronic.aspx?searchid=f8f4e13a- 93f5-431f-b05f-9595af1b69e0 DWR Report shows between 2009 and 2014 water levels declined in most wells between 0 to 4 feet. Between 2004 and 2014 water levels were mixed; some declined 0 to 4 feet some rose 0 to 4 feet. NWISWeb Water level data (current and historic) is published to the web via the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) Web interface (NWISWeb). Link to site table: http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/inventory?multiple_site_no=393016104392601%2C 392133104310201%2C392856104393801%2C391924104374101%2C39235510438200 1%2C392203104342301%2C392130104341401%2C391915104375001%2C391126104 354701%2C391545104335401%2C390935104301001%2C392058104364401%2C3927 24104341901%2C392125104323701%2C391829104385301%2C391502104273601%2 C391852104391301%2C393227104343401%2C392131104351701%2C3911481042941 01%2C391848104261401%2C393350104151701%2C393012104310701%2C39182110 4270601%2C391811104140301%2C391257104173601%2C390755104172501%2C391 851104204501%2C393251104073701%2C393225104073601%2C392434104142701%2 C391946104114501%2C391208104053301%2C390800104172601%2C3918341042056 01%2C391740104072401%2C392400104150601%2C392616103591001%2C39263510 ---PAGE BREAK--- 12 3590001%2C391621104012001%2C391609104014001%2C390817104040301&format =station_list&group_key=NONE&list_of_search_criteria=multiple_site_no Link to hydrographs: http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/gwlevels?multiple_site_no=393016104392601%2C 392133104310201%2C392856104393801%2C391924104374101%2C39235510438200 1%2C392203104342301%2C392130104341401%2C391915104375001%2C391126104 354701%2C391545104335401%2C390935104301001%2C392058104364401%2C3927 24104341901%2C392125104323701%2C391829104385301%2C391502104273601%2 C391852104391301%2C393227104343401%2C392131104351701%2C3911481042941 01%2C391848104261401%2C393350104151701%2C393012104310701%2C39182110 4270601%2C391811104140301%2C391257104173601%2C390755104172501%2C391 851104204501%2C393251104073701%2C393225104073601%2C392434104142701%2 C391946104114501%2C391208104053301%2C390800104172601%2C3918341042056 01%2C391740104072401%2C392400104150601%2C392616103591001%2C39263510 3590001%2C391621104012001%2C391609104014001%2C390817104040301&group_ key=NONE&sitefile_output_format=html_table&column_name=agency_cd&column_na me=site_no&column_name=station_nm&format=gif&date_format=YYYY-MM- DD&rdb_compression=file&list_of_search_criteria=multiple_site_no ---PAGE BREAK--- 13 Publications Relevant to Elbert County Bauch, N.J., Musgrove, Mahler, B.J., and Paschke, S.S., 2014, The quality of our Nation’s waters —Water quality in the Denver Basin aquifer system, Colorado, 2003– 05: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1357, 100 http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/cir1357. Everett, R.R., 2014, Groundwater levels in the Denver Basin bedrock aquifers of Douglas County, Colorado, 2011–2013: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2014–5172, 45 http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sir20145172. Ivahnenko, Tamara, and J.L., 2010, Estimated withdrawals and use of water in Colorado, 2005: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010–5002, 61 p. Musgrove, Beck, J.A., Paschke, S.S., Bauch, N.J., and Mashburn, S.L., 2014, Quality of groundwater in the Denver Basin aquifer system, Colorado, 2003–5: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2014–5051, 107 http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sir20145051. Paschke, S.S. ed., 2011, Groundwater Availability of the Denver Basin aquifer system, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1770, 274 p. Donegan, Kevin 2014, Groundwater levels in the Denver Basin bedrock aquifers, 2014: Colorado Division of Water Resources, 242 p. Robson, S.G., and Romero, J.C., 1981a, Geologic Structure, Hydrology, and Water Quality of the Dawson Aquifer in the Denver Basin, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Investigations Atlas HA-643. Robson, S.G., and Romero, J.C., 1981b, Geologic Structure, Hydrology, and Water Quality of the Denver Aquifer in the Denver Basin, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Investigations Atlas HA-643. ---PAGE BREAK--- 14 Robson, S.G., Romero, J.C., and Zawistowski, Stanley, 1981, Geologic Structure, Hydrology, and Water Quality of the Arapahoe Aquifer in the Denver Basin, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Investigations Atlas HA-647. Romero, J.C., 1976, Ground-water resources of the bedrock aquifers of the Denver Basin: Colorado Division of Water Resources Report, 109 p.