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#  DATASET_NAME: colorado.txt	
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#  REPORT TITLE: 
#     Estimated Withdrawals from Stream-Valley Aquifers and Refined 
#     Estimated Withdrawals from Selected Aquifers in the United 
#     States, 2000
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#  REPORT SERIES/NUMBER: Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5003 
#  REPORT URL: URL: http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/sir/sir20085003
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#  NAWQA STUDY:	Alluvial Aquifers
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#  METADATA DATE:   August 28, 2008 
#  METADATA CONTACT: Pierre Sargent, Molly Maupin, Stephen Hinkl
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#                    	fax:   208-387-1372
#                    	email: mamaupin@usgs.gov
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#  TERTIARY CONTACT:   Stephen Hinkle
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#                      email: srhinkle@usgs.gov
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#  ABSTRACT:  
#     The report authors maintained notes detailing the process that 
#     was used to do the analysis for this report. The pertinent 
#     notes were included in the appendix of the report. 
#     Some details that did not warrant publication reside 
#     in these notes. These notes are being archived in the 
#     event that they might be of use to future water-use 
#     efforts aimed at stream-valley aquifers.
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# Related_Spatial_and_Tabular_Data_Sets:  
#     There are related text files of notes for all 25 states/territories in this study
#     arizona.txt
#     arkansas.txt
#     colorado.txt
#     illinois.txt
#     indiana.txt
#     kansas.txt
#     kentucky.txt
#     louisiana.txt
#     missouri.txt
#     montana.txt
#     nebraska.txt
#     new_mexico.txt
#     new_york.txt
#     new_jersey.txt
#     north_dakota.txt
#     ohio.txt
#     oklahoma.txt
#     pennsylvania.txt
#     puerto_rico.txt
#     south_dakota.txt
#     tennessee.txt
#     texas.txt
#     utah.txt
#     west_virginia.txt
#     wyoming.txt
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#  METADATA Basic documentation of dataset elements:
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#     DATA DESCRIPTION: 
#         Text files describing the analysis process, one text file 
#         for each state
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#     DATA TYPES: ascii text
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#     DATA SOURCES: notes taken during data analysis and from correspondance
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COLORADO DOCUMENTATION 
Last edited: December 8, 2005

        In Colorado water use data for all categories was available from the Colorado Division of Water Resources, the Colorado Geological Survey, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board for the 2000 compilation.  Public supply data also was available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Castle Pines Metropolitan District, Castle Rock, the Centennial Water and Sanitation District, the Cherokee Metropolitan District, the East Cherry Creek Valley Water and Sanitation District, the Greenwood Plaza Water District, the Bell Mountain Ranch Water and Sanitation District, the Stonegate Metropolitan District, the Parker Water and Sanitation District, and the Willows Water District.  Irrigation data also was supplied by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District, and the Lower South Platte Water Conservancy District.  The Office of the State Engineer in the Colorado Department of Natural Resources provided pumpage data from irrigation, public supply, and self-supplied industrial wells.      
      
      In 2000 total water ground-water withdrawals in Colorado was approximately 2,320 Mgal/d.  Ground-water withdrawals in the categories of public supply, self-supplied industrial, and irrigation are 2,234 Mgal/d, 96 per cent of total ground-water withdrawals.  Withdrawals from the alluvial aquifers and the Other aquifer category totaled 610 Mgal/d, representing 27 per cent of ground water withdrawals from the three categories. Irrigation was the source of most of the withdrawals attributed to alluvial aquifers (482 Mgal/d out of a total of 496 Mgal/d).  Irrigation was also the major source of water assigned to the Other aquifer category (89.5 Mgal/d out of a total of 114 Mgal/d).
      Stream-valley aquifer withdrawals were disaggregated by Larry R. Arnold (USGS hydrologist, Colorado Water Science Center) from both alluvial aquifer and Other aquifer withdrawals.  As mentioned in the Ground Water Atlas of the United States, on the Great Plains alluvium along the South Platte River is thick and continuous. Typically well records in the area are given an aquifer designation that reflects the surface material. Near the South Platte many wells are designated as screened in Eolian material when in fact they are actually screened in alluvium. Larry Arnold has conducted field work in the area and was able to differentiate wells screen in Eolian material from those screened in alluvium. 
      The South Platte stream-valley aquifer had the greatest total withdrawals (404 Mgal/d); followed by the Arkansas stream-valley aquifer (134 Mgal/d) and then the Mountainous Area stream-valley aquifers (14.7 Mgal/d). For all stream-valley aquifer withdrawals, the irrigation category had the greatest withdrawals (526 Mgal/d); followed by public supply and self-supplied industrial, 13.2 and 13.0 Mgal/d, respectively. A total of 40.5 Mgal/d of withdrawals attributed to the Other aquifer category could be disaggregated into seven different crystalline rock units. Eolian sands and isolated terrace deposits were identified as the source for 17.8 Mgal/d of withdrawals from water-bearing unconsolidated deposits.


