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Colorado's Nonpoint Source Program: 2022 Annual Report
Prepared Pursuant to Section 319(h)(11) of the Clean Water Act
Executive Summary
Colorado's Nonpoint Source (NPS) Program distributes funding awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Section 319 of the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) to address the unique water quality challenges of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution control. Section 319 grants help implement NPS Management Programs and fund NPS projects designed to reduce NPS pollution - pollution from diffuse sources that is carried to waterbodies through runoff or snowmelt and is not controlled through regulatory mechanisms such as Colorado's Discharge Permit System . Colorado’s 2022 Section 319 grant work plan identifies projects that help meet objectives and milestones in Colorado's updated 2022 NPS Management Plan (approved by the Water Quality Control Commission on April 11, 2022 and approved by EPA on August 2, 2022) through a strategic approach focused on NPS Program priorities. Section 319(h)(11) requires states to report on milestone progress, NPS pollutant load reductions, and other water quality improvements on an annual basis.
This 2022 Annual Report summarizes milestone progress from October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022 (FFY2022) both under the previous NPS Management Plan (2012) as well as the current 2022 NPS Management Plan, as well as progress made on Section 319 grant workplans from 2017-2022.
Highlights for Colorado's NPS Program for FFY2022 include:
- Colorado's Water Quality Control Commission approved the 2022 NPS Management Plan at an administrative action hearing in April 2022, and the EPA approved the revised plan which updates and replaces the 2012 revision in August 2022. The 2022 update to the Nonpoint Source Management Plan includes objectives and milestones to measure progress during the 2022-2027 plan timeframe, and was the result of an iterative process that involved a survey from NPS partners, input from the NPS Alliance, including work sessions with the NPS Alliance and NPS Workgroup, as well as a notice for public comments leading up to the April hearing;
- The EPA approved a Success Story for the Lower South Platte River (COSPLS01a and COSPLS01b) from the Weld County/Morgan County line to the Colorado/Nebraska border where best management practices (BMPs) reduced selenium loading from agricultural activities. The Lower South Platte River is an important water resource for drinking water, aquatic life, recreation and agriculture uses. After watershed plans were completed for the area in 2005 and 2012, Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) funded conservation practices identified in those watershed plans to address water quality concerns from irrigated croplands. These BMPs improved water quality, and as a result, this stretch of river now meets selenium water quality standards, and was removed from the CWA Section 303(d) list of impaired waters in 2020;
- Colorado's unprecedented wildfire season in 2020 burned over 625,000 acres across the Colorado and South Platte basins. To help address post-wildfire runoff, the NPS Program released a Request for Applications (RFA #40646) for post-fire implementation using Sate Revolving Funds for disaster support. The "East Troublesome Fire Willow Creek Stabilization" project was approved through this RFA, and will begin work in 2023. This project will address sediment and nutrient loading into Willow Creek Reservoir, a part of the collections system for the Colorado-Big Thompson Project that delivers water to more than 1 million people for agricultural and municipal use;
- The NPS Program offered priority points for disadvantaged communities in its 2022 RFA (#35752) as part of CDPHE’s commitment to incorporate health equity and environmental justice principles into administration of its programs. Over 50% of the total funding request came from project sponsors doing work in areas of the state that met the State Revolving Fund definition of a disadvantaged community;
- After the Colorado Environmental Justice Act (House Bill 21-1266) was passed, the NPS Program released its 2023 RFA (#41051), which included priority points for projects in areas that met the disproportionately impacted community definition identified in HB21-1266;
- The NPS Program continued to participate in the San Juan Watershed Program under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act to implement a wildfire mitigation project in the Florida watershed to protect source water;
- The NPS Program continued edge-of-field monitoring at several projects to assess BMP effectiveness and aid in calibration of watershed models to improve the accuracy of these models; and
- The NPS Program held its annual Planning Session with the NPS Alliance in April 2022 to coordinate NPS efforts across the state and collaborate on approaches to improve water quality impacted by NPS pollution.
How to Use this StoryMap
StoryMaps are web applications that combine interactive maps, multimedia content, and user experiences to tell stories digitally. This StoryMap is a visual resource that not only gives the reader background information on Colorado's NPS Program, but summarizes annual progress in meeting milestones for Colorado's NPS Program pursuant to Section 319(h)(11) of the Federal CWA. To navigate the StoryMap, some of the interactive features work best on a desktop or laptop computer. Please scroll down through the content or use the top menu bar to jump to a specific section of the StoryMap. Images can be expanded by clicking or tapping on the image. When you see words with a red underline, hover over the word(s) and click on the word(s), and it will open up a separate window/tab to take you to a website or document that provides more information on that topic.
For More Information
Please visit www.npscolorado.com for more information on Colorado's NPS Management Program or please contact:
Estella Moore at estella.moore@state.co.us
Introduction
The Water Quality Control Commission (commission) and Water Quality Control Division (division) of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), under the authority of federal and Colorado statutes, administer state programs implementing the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA). Congress enacted Section 319 of the CWA to establish a national program to control nonpoint source (NPS) water pollution and to develop NPS management programs that maintain and improve water quality with the assistance of Section 319 grants. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the division to implement a state NPS management program which is now the division’s Nonpoint Source Program .
The goal of Colorado’s NPS Program is to:
"restore and protect Colorado waters from the impacts of nonpoint source pollution to meet and maintain water quality standards and designated uses."
Surface water quality standards consist of three core components: classified uses, criteria, and antidegradation designations. Use classifications are based on each waterbody’s current or future suitability for the use. Criteria are then assigned to protect the uses. Antidegradation requirements protect existing uses and high-quality waters from degradation. In Colorado, these components are generally implemented on a segment-by-segment basis.
Stream and lake segments that do not fully support classified uses are defined as impaired and placed on the Colorado Section 303(d) List of Impaired Waters .
Restoration of impaired waterbodies improves water quality and ecosystems from a degraded state to a target condition by implementing watershed-based plans for watersheds containing one or more impaired waterbodies. Protection of waterbodies involves maintaining the integrity of healthy aquatic ecosystems and healthy watersheds.
What is Nonpoint Source Pollution?
NPS pollution is unlike permitted pollution from municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4), industrial and sewage treatment plants, and other point source pollution regulated through a permitting program (e.g. Section 401, 402 and 404 permits), and is a broad category of water pollution that does not fall within the legal definition of ‘point source’ in Section 502(14) of the Federal CWA:
“Point source means any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to, any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, landfill leachate collection system, vessel or other floating craft from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include return flows from irrigated agriculture or agricultural storm water runoff."
NPS pollution comes from diffuse sources, and generally results from land runoff, precipitation, atmospheric deposition, drainage, seepage or hydrologic modification. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants (e.g. nutrients, sediment, metals, pathogens, etc.), depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands and groundwater. Types of NPS pollution are associated with how people use the land (land use) and particular physical land types (land cover). In Colorado, NPS source categories can include:
Abandoned Mine Lands
Abandoned mine sites are prevalent throughout the state of Colorado along the state's mineral belt (see map inset of the Abandoned Mines Water Quality Webportal available on Environmental Resource Assessment and Management System, or eRAMS) and water quality impacts from these abandoned mines include acid mine drainage, alkaline mine drainage, loading of dissolved metals (e.g. iron, copper, zinc, manganese, cadmium and lead), sediment loading, and oxide deposits in streambeds.
Water quality impacts from AML affect aquatic life, drinking water supplies, commercial snowmaking, and agricultural water use.
Colorado's Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety published a manual in 2002 as guidance to evaluate and assess areas impacted by abandoned mine lands and provide solutions for reclamation activities. These approaches are called "Best Management Practices" and can include:
- Hydrologic Controls such as:
- Diversion Ditches;
- Mine Tailings Removal;
- Erosion and Sediment Control; and
- Revegetation; and
- Passive Treatment such as:
- Aerobic Wetlands;
- Anaerobic Wetlands; and
- Aeration and Settling Ponds.
Colorado's NPS Program funded a project to assess AML BMP Effectiveness at prioritized AML projects across the state to better inform and improve future management activities. More information on this project can be found in the "Summary of Annual Grant Accomplishments" section below.
Agriculture
Almost half of Colorado’s land use/land cover is agricultural land, with the majority of the top ten agricultural counties in the state in the South Platte River Basin. Agriculture accounts for 89% of Colorado’s total consumptive use, with 81% of water use diverted from surface streams. Runoff and drainage from agriculture can impact water quality through loading of pesticides, nutrients, sediment, E. coli, and metals (e.g. selenium, manganese and iron).
Water quality impairments from agriculture affect aquatic life, recreational use, and drinking water supplies.
Colorado’s NPS Program works with partners to implement voluntary NPS provisions of Regulation 85 (Nutrients Management Control Regulation) to reduce nutrient pollution across the state. The Commission adopted Regulation 85 in 2012 (Phase 1) and 2017 (Phase 2), which establishes numerical effluent limitations for point source dischargers and voluntary steps for nonpoint sources to address nutrients. The Division also established a water quality roadmap to outline a strategy for developing nutrient criteria and address other water quality priorities from 2017-2027. The Division’s Nutrient Management Plan and roadmap identifies the following voluntary actions to protect streams and lakes:
- Collaboration with the agricultural community to implement BMPs;
- Collaboration with other entities on the development and implementation of NPS monitoring programs;
- Education and outreach focused on NPS pollution prevention and restoration activities; and
- Evaluating nonpoint source to point source nutrient trading proposals.
In addition to ten agriculture projects, including the Colorado Department of Agriculture's (CDA) Soil Health Pilot Program - the STAR Program, the NPS Program provided financial and technical assistance to:
- Four wildfire-related projects in response to the East Troublesome Fire, Cameron Peak Fire, and Grizzly Creek Fire;
- CDA's Groundwater Protection Program; and
- Groundwork Denver's NPS Pollution Reduction in Lower Bear Creek project under the urbanization section below.
Examples of agricultural BMPs to address nutrients, as well as other NPS parameters such as selenium and sediment, include:
- Irrigation management (e.g. irrigation scheduling and lined/piped waterways);
- Precision agriculture (e.g. soil moisture sensors) and nutrient management;
- Regenerative practices improving soil health like cover crops and reduced tillage; and
- Filter/buffer strips.
Colorado's NPS Program published a Success Story in 2020 for the Lower South Platte River (COSPLS01a and COSPLS01b) from the Weld County/Morgan County line to the Colorado/Nebraska border for attaining selenium water quality standards after BMP implementation. More information on this Success Story can be found below.
Atmospheric Deposition
Atmospheric deposition occurs through wet or dry deposition, and includes pollutants such as nutrients, microplastics, and sediment. In wet deposition, pollutants are suspended in the atmosphere (i.e. aerosols), and are deposited in watersheds during precipitation events. In dry deposition, aerosols are removed from the atmosphere and deposited through atmospheric dust, particulate matter, or trace gas deposition. Dust-on-snow events where particulates are deposited through atmospheric deposition impact snowmelt timing and can contribute to pulsing of NPS pollutants in runoff.
Data collected since the early 1980s document changes to Rocky Mountain National Park's fragile ecosystem as a result of nitrogen deposition. The United State Geological Survey found that wet deposition across the urban-to-rural transect in the Front Range suggested that ammonia from agriculture contributes to urban inorganic nitrogen wet deposition. The Rocky Mountain National Park Nitrogen Deposition Reduction Plan was created in 2007, and includes education and outreach to the agricultural community, as well as BMP implementation to reduce agricultural ammonia emissions.
Management approaches for atmospheric deposition include those that decrease potential sources of aerosol release (e.g. soil health practices to keep particulates in place) in addition to those that decrease load reductions of deposited pollutants into receiving waters (e.g. filter strips).
Forestry
Forestry impacts on water quality include recreational use, silviculture operations (e.g. timber harvesting, road and skid trail construction, prescribed fire, herbicide application, fertilizer application, etc.), and wildfires. Climate-change induced changes in snowfall and peak runoff, heat waves and increased intensity and size of wildfires result in negative impacts to water quality and aquatic life.
More than 70% of surface water source water areas in Colorado include some US Forest Service land, with about 80% of the state's population relying on drinking water from these watersheds.
Healthy forests help protect and maintain healthy watersheds. The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is the area where structures and other human developments meet with wildland vegetation, and in Colorado includes more than 3.2 million acres. Uncontrolled wildfire is hazardous in the WUI, as was shown by Colorado's most destructive wildfire in Colorado history - the Marshall Fire. Colorado’s significant growth in wildfire-prone areas, on top of drought impacted forests, and increased intensity and duration of wildfires compounded by climate change make WUI hazard mitigation planning a crucial next step for wildfire and watershed management.
Wildland urban interface hazard mitigation saves $3 for every $1 spent (FEMA).
Excess sediment, nutrients, temperature, habitat alteration, and metals loading are some of the more serious NPS impacts from forestry.
NPS forestry BMPs to address these pollutants include:
- Off-highway vehicle (OHV) management;
- Critical area planting;
- Sediment basins;
- Recreation area improvements to decrease erosion and runoff;
- Road decommissioning;
- Restoration options such as hazardous fuels reduction, and floodplain, wetland, and stream restoration; and
- Post-wildfire rehabilitation.
Hydromodification and Habitat Alteration
Hydromodification and habitat alteration are the second leading source of water quality impairments related to anthropogenic activities in the nation (EPA). Hydromodification is the "alteration of the hydrologic characteristics of coastal and non-coastal waters, which in turn could cause degradation of water resources”. Examples of hydromodification include dams, impoundments, channelization, dredging, diversions, and even stream relocation. Direct habitat alteration such as floodplain development and riparian habitat changes as well as indirect habitat alteration of in-stream habitat decreases the ability of waterbodies to process pollutants.
Water quality impacts from hydromodification and habitat alteration include sediment loading, nutrient loading, and impacts to temperature and dissolved oxygen.
BMPs to address NPS pollution from hydromodification and habitat alteration include process-based restoration to improve assimilative capacity of watersheds, and increase watershed resilience. Examples of nature-based solutions to restore and protect waterbodies include low-tech hand-built structures such as one rock dams and wicker weirs. Protecting and restoring watershed processes that improve hydrologic, geomorphic, and/or ecologic processes within a degraded watershed increase watershed resilience.
Urbanization
The NPS Program provides technical and financial assistance for unregulated stormwater runoff management. Stormwater runoff is generated from rain and snowmelt that flow over land or impervious surfaces such as paved streets, parking lots, building rooftops, and does not soak into the ground. As urban areas continue to expand there is an increase in impervious surfaces, resulting in increased stormwater runoff into waterbodies. This runoff can increase pollutant loads into nearby waterbodies.
Pollutants such as nutrients, pathogens, petroleum hydrocarbons, metals, and synthetic organics can be captured through BMPs that slow and spread runoff while enhancing natural processes of pollutant uptake and infiltration (e.g. recharge basins, installing porous surfaces and green infrastructure). Green infrastructure also provides additional community benefits such as open space. Additional BMPs include street sweeping, snow disposal/treatment, mycelium socks and phytoremediation.
Technical and Financial Assistance to Meet the NPS Program's Goal
The NPS Program meets their restoration and protection goal by providing technical and financial assistance to local communities to address NPS pollution impacts through voluntary, incentivized BMPs. The 2022 NPS Management Plan helps address the unique water quality challenges of NPS pollution control through a strategic approach that includes objectives and milestones to measure goal progress during the 2022 – 2027 plan timeframe. Projects are identified below by NPS pollution source category to meet Section 319(b)(2)(A) requirements while also identifying the regulatory basin location of the projects. See the "Summary of Annual Grant Accomplishments" section for more information.
The main approach to provide financial assistance to local communities for NPS projects is through the annual Request for Applications (RFA) process. The NPS Program funds watershed-based plan (WBPs) and watershed implementation projects that implement BMPs identified in WBPs. This process is a continual process that includes project scoping to help project sponsors develop potential projects, the RFA process that begins with the RFA release, and contracting, which includes providing technical assistance for quality assurance/quality control:
The RFA process to solicit NPS projects detailing project scoping, RFA release, and general contracting steps.
In addition to watershed planning and watershed implementation projects, the NPS Program's strategic approach also uses the following program activities to meet its goal and priorities:
- NPS Mini-Grant Program: This program supports a variety of small, locally-sponsored NPS outreach and education projects that range from conferences and events to bike tours and watershed group formation exploration;
- NPS Watershed Planning and Tool Development Program: Projects funded under this program include developing watershed plans and tool development that supports watershed planning and watershed implementation projects;
- NPS Program Success Story Initiative: This program funds data collection and data analysis to demonstrate measurable water quality improvements from NPS projects and programs to help the program meet its Performance Partnership Agreement (PPA) requirements with EPA;
- Disaster Support: The NPS Program provides technical and financial assistance for emergency/disaster support for post-wildfire and flooding NPS projects that address water quality concerns through BMP implementation; and
- Disproportionately Impacted Communities: The NPS Program provides financial assistance to disproportionately impacted communities for watershed planning and watershed implementation projects. Priority points are given as part of the request for applications process.
Summary of Annual Grant Accomplishments
This reporting period includes five years of CWA Section 319 grants (FFY17-22) with over 35 different NPS project activities with a variety of project types and NPS source categories. Local communities contributed over $3 million of non-federal funds to leverage resources during FFY17-22 and expand on effective implementation of the NPS Program to improve water quality in the state. The state also provided a total of over $1.7 million in Water Quality Improvement Funds (WQIF) as nonfederal match for FFY17-22 projects.
Funding shown below per NPS source category shows total NPS funding provided, which includes Section 319 funds, but also leverages other sources of funding such as Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority funds (i.e. Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund). The required 40% of total project cost non-federal match requirement only applies to Section 319 funded portions of projects. Match numbers below are not final numbers unless the project status is identified as "complete". Final match is reported once the project is complete through the final federal financial report for the Section 319 grant.
Progress in meeting the milestones and objectives in the 2012 NPS Management Plan for the majority of FFY22 (October 1, 2021 - April 11, 2022) are presented below "complete", with the deliverables identified if applicable for each milestone. Basins identified in the NPS source category tables below are the regulatory basins applicable to that project. All load reductions and water quality data for completed projects was uploaded to EPA's Grants Reporting and Tracking System (GRTS) and Water Quality Exchange (WQX) respectively to address those grant requirements and can be accessed on those websites in greater detail.
Progress in meeting milestones and objectives in the 2022 NPS Management Plan for FFY22 (April 11, 2022 - September 30, 2022) is also reported below.
2012 NPS Management Plan Progress
Objective 1: To protect water quality from potential impact from nonpoint source pollution generated by anthropogenic activities.
This objective helps the NPS Program ensure that watershed-based plans are developed at a sufficient pace to support implementation needs, that local efforts have the technical assistance they need to meet the requirements of the NPS Program, and implement BMPs to meet the NPS Program's goal.
Milestones for this objective include:
- Provide financial and technical support to watershed groups to develop/update watershed-based plans (complete - see NPS Watershed Planning and Tool Development Program section below);
- Provide technical assistance, education and training at the local level by providing technical assistance to project sponsors to develop and approve Sampling Analysis Plans (SAP) and Project Implementation Plans (PIP) (complete - see projects below per source category); and
- Fund and implement projects that protect water quality, aquatic life and habitat integrity (complete - see projects below per source category).
Objective 2: To restore water quality in streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs and groundwater that are impaired due to nonpoint source pollution generated by anthropogenic activities.
This objective helps the NPS Program distribute funds to prioritized implementation efforts identified through watershed planning using EPA's nine minimum elements of watershed planning , while leveraging funding opportunities from NPS partners for water quality improvements.
Milestones for this objective include:
- Prioritize restoration activities to meet NPS program priorities and division strategies to address impaired waters (complete - see projects below per source category);
- Provide financial and technical support to watershed groups to develop/update watershed-based plans (one watershed-based plan was completed and four water quality planning agencies began work on developing watershed-based plans);
- Fund and implement projects that address impaired waters, and improve aquatic life and habitat (Every year as approved via the project solicitation process);
- Encourage land and resource management agencies, NGOs and others to identify and mitigate nonpoint source pollution impacts in the context of their program plans (complete - see NPS Alliance section below); and
- Implement BMPs that restore water quality and aquatic life and habitat (complete - see projects below per source category).
Objective 3: Implement the Colorado NPS Program to achieve measurable water quality improvement.
The NPS Program meets its grant requirements under this objective that focuses on standardized reporting methods, and improving accessibility of information and data for the public and project sponsors.
Milestones for this objective include:
- Establish monitoring tools to evaluate environmental measures and indicators of success (ongoing under the 2022 NPS Management Plan);
- Develop or support a watershed assessment tool that identifies or helps identify water quality trends (ongoing under the 2022 NPS Management Plan);
- Update the BMP library and create a field BMP template (ongoing under the 2022 NPS Management Plan); and
- Ensure that project data are uploaded to EPA's Water Quality Exchange (WQX) (complete - see projects below per source category).
Objective 4: Implement the Colorado NPS Program to meet EPA guidelines.
Additional grant requirements are met under this objective with a focus on fiscal requirements, entering the mandated elements into EPA's Grant Reporting and Tracking System (GRTS) , education and outreach
Milestones for this objective include:
- Ensure that funds are awarded and spent appropriately within EPA and State guidelines (complete - submitted to EPA through the Federal Financial Reports and this Annual Report);
- Ensure the Grant Reporting and Tracking System (GRTS) is up-to-date for all NPS projects (complete);
- Utilize GRTS enhanced functions to develop analytical and reporting documents (complete);
- Provide educational and information materials to interested entities and project partners on a variety of water quality issues (complete - see projects below per source category);
- Communicate NPS Program successes and lessons learned (complete - see Success Story section below);
- Address NPS CWA mandate regarding the Integrated Report (complete);
- Implement program efficiently and consistently (complete with continual improvement);
- Broaden the impact of the Colorado NPS program goals and objectives (complete - see NPS Alliance section below);
- Implement appropriate strategy regarding stormwater-related projects (complete - see projects below under urbanization);
- Continued Participation on CDPHE Multi-media Pollutants Task Force (the NPS Program is no longer participating in this task force); and
- Meet EPA program reporting (complete).
Abandoned Mine Lands (AML)
The NPS Program provided financial and technical assistance and targeted education and outreach to two AML projects during FFY22 to meet the above milestones for the first, second, and fourth objectives.
One AML project will be completed in fall 2023 and is evaluating BMP effectiveness at prioritized NPS AML project sites to aid in decision making for site-specific BMP prescriptions. Stakeholder input along with existing AML reports and studies were used to prioritize AML project sites for assessment based on site selection criteria determined by the stakeholder group composed of mine restoration agencies. AML impacts Colorado’s waterbodies through acid mine drainage that contains dissolved metals, with high levels being toxic to aquatic life and contaminants impacting drinking water and agricultural water sources. Over the last 15 years, the Nonpoint Source (NPS) Program has committed over $10 million in funding to improve water quality impacted by abandoned mine lands across the state through implementation of practices (BMPs). The Colorado Division of Reclamation and Mining Safety's (DRMS) Inactive Mine Reclamation Program has been involved in all of the AML projects funded by the NPS Program since the NPS Program's inception. Following the Gold King mine release in August 2015, DRMS, CDPHE, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completed the Abandoned Mines Water Quality Study in 2017 to identify AML sites that pose a threat to water quality or physical and safety hazards. These 145 abandoned mines discharging water were surveyed and sampled to develop an Abandoned Mines Land Information Hub to assist in decision making by mine restoration agencies. This next step to evaluate implementation and effectiveness of BMPs to identify potential deficiencies in either BMP implementation or effectiveness will help adjust management approaches and develop the most effective site-specific BMP prescriptions to improve water quality.
The other project funded in FFY22 was an education and outreach project supported through the NPS Mini Grant Program for the San Juan Mining and Reclamation Conference 2022 held in Ouray, Colorado. This event brought together about 80 stakeholders to address abandoned and draining mines in the state, and helped meet the education and information milestone under objective 4.
The NPS Program will continue post-project monitoring through its Success Story Initiative for any water quality improvements as well as any operation and maintenance needs in the future.
Agriculture
In addition to two statewide projects addressing nutrients and soil health, the NPS Program funded projects addressing NPS pollutants in the following basins:
- Arkansas (4 projects);
- Gunnison (1 project); and
- South Platte (3 projects).
In addition to these ten projects, the NPS Program collaborated with Colorado's Department of Agriculture (CDA) to provide technical assistance (milestone #2 under objective #1) to the Agricultural Chemicals and Groundwater Protection Program to update Field Standard Operating Procedures for Surface Water Monitoring Activities of the Agricultural Water Quality Program that was published in April 2022. CDA's Agricultural Water Quality Program was formed in 1990 as the Agricultural Chemicals & Groundwater Protection Program (CRS 25-8-205.5) with the purpose of reducing the impacts that agricultural chemicals have on groundwater and the environment by preventing groundwater contamination before it occurs through improved agricultural chemical management. It mandated monitoring in groundwater for nitrate-nitrogen from commercial fertilizers and pesticides. In 2019, the program’s scope was legislatively expanded to add monitoring and outreach regarding agricultural chemicals impacting surface water. The resulting Standard Operating Procedure identifies and prioritizes groundwater and surface water sampling locations throughout Colorado for a suite of parameters that include dissolved metals, total recoverable metals, nutrients, and 96 pesticides. More information on the program is available here .
Progress Implementing Nonpoint Source Nutrient Reduction Activities (Regulation 85)
Over the last year, several BMPs were implemented to address nutrient reduction, including, but not limited to:
- installation of two irrigation head pond liners;
- installation of 16,975 feet of an earthen ditch liner (with an additional 8,150 feet implemented by the Bureau of Reclamation);
- implementation of no tillage and crop rotation; and
- planting cover crops.
There are currently ten NPS monitoring programs related to nutrient reduction management, and these programs recently have seen a lot of growth and interest. One of these, the CDA Groundwater and Surface Water Protection Program, raises more than $750,000 annually for additional staff and water quality monitoring. Data sampling for 2022 is ongoing. Previous year's monitoring reports are available on CDA's Agricultural Water Quality Program website .
The division and NPS partners conducted 42 outreach activities during this reporting timeframe, and the STAR Program (highlighted below) has ten participants signed up so far with $25 million in funding from USDA to expand the program to western mountain states.
Project Spotlight: Lower Arkansas River Valley
The Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District's project "Lower Arkansas River Valley NPS Water Quality Projects" was completed in September 2022. This area of the state is primarily an irrigated agricultural production area where irrigation canals and irrigation wells provide irrigation water to more than 250,000 acres along the Arkansas River. This area of the state was historically flood irrigated, resulting in deep percolation through the shale soils, leading to NPS pollution from selenium, uranium and nutrients. Dissolved selenium and uranium pose health hazards for wildlife and aquatic life, as well as water supply use.
This project began in 2018, and addressed selenium and nutrients in segments COARLA01c and COARLA01b in the Lower Arkansas River near John Martin Reservoir by implementing 13 BMPs:
- 1 large lateral lining;
- 3 soil health plots;
- 5 irrigation pond linings;
- 2 lease fallow projects;
- a small drip irrigation improvement; and
- a riparian buffer zone.
These two segments are on the 303(d) list of impaired waters for dissolved manganese (water supply), total arsenic (water supply), and dissolved selenium (aquatic life use). Segment COARLA01c is also listed for total uranium (water supply).
Irrigation pond linings, lateral piping/linings and lease fallow practices can have a noticeable impact on deep percolation, and therefore improvements in water quality in the watershed. Decreased subsurface water post-implementation was observed in this project. While continued monitoring post-implementation will help identify BMP effectiveness in the long-term, load reductions for this project include:
- 38 lbs of selenium/year;
- 350 lbs of nitrogen/year; and
- 706 lbs of phosphate/year.
See the NPS Program's Success Story: Reducing Selenium Impacts in a Segment of the Lower South Platte River below...
NPS Partner Spotlight
The NPS Program continued to provide financial support to CDA's Soil Health Initiative during FFY22 to address NPS pollution through soil health practices in four different watersheds (i.e. the Lower Arkansas River, the Upper Yampa River, St Vrain Creek and the Uncompahgre River). This pilot program addresses water quality issues related to NPS pollution such as selenium, nutrients and E.coli. These NPS pollutants are difficult to manage because the pollution is carried into waterbodies from various sources including trans-basin diversions and deep percolation-induced groundwater water flow. This pilot program proposes a multi-pronged approach to encourage adoption of NPS BMPs for soil health in addition to small incentive payments for producers, enrollment in the Saving Tomorrow’s Agriculture Resources (STAR) program, and free soil health testing. This project will be complete in June 2025, and includes education and outreach activities to showcase the effectiveness of NPS BMPs to expand the implementation of NPS BMPs across the state. This project addresses milestone #4 under objective #2.
For FFY22, this project completed the following:
- Performed initial consultations with participants through conservation and conservancy districts by technical assistance providers;
- Installed edge-of-field water quality equipment at two sites;
- Soil sampling at two sites;
- CDA hosted the first regional event in the San Luis Valley August 13, 2022 where stakeholders toured two farms and ranches to see soil health practices in the field; and
- STAR field forms for participating fields.
Forestry
The NPS Program provided financial and technical assistance to 13 projects addressing NPS pollution related to forestry (including wildfire and flooding) during FFY22. Nine of these projects are related to four wildfires from 2020 (i.e. East Troublesome Fire, Grizzly Creek Fire, Calwood Fire, and Cameron Peak Fire), and one is related to the Spring Creek Fire (2018). One project is statewide, and is updating the Colorado State Forest Service's BMP Monitoring and Manual as well as the Forest Roads Field Handbook. Another project is leveraging funding through the San Juan Watershed Program, and the final project, a protection project, is in coordination with U.S. Forest Service and is highlighted below in the NPS Alliance section.
Due to the unprecedented wildfire season in 2020, the NPS Program provided funding through the Power Authority for post-wildfire projects during FFY21. Three of the four projects completed in December 2021 were continued in 2022. An additional project began work using Power Authority funding and will continue under Section 319 funding and is slated to be completed June 2025.
Colorado State University's BMP Implementation at the C Lazy U Ranch addresses water quality impacts to Willow Creek from the East Troublesome Fire. Willow Creek is a critically important water source for many local and regional water users, including the Colorado-Big Thompson project. Wood strand mulch and log erosion barriers implemented in the CSU project removed 1.49 tons of sediment in 2021, and are projected to remove 11.21 tons of sediment in 2022. This project helped address milestones #2 and 3 for objective #1, and milestones #3, 4 and 5 under objective #2. Additionally, data collected will help update hydrological modeling tools available through CSU's Environmental Resource Assessment and Management System (eRAMS) platform. This platform helps users with management decisions for a variety of water quality concerns (e.g. nutrient reduction, urban planning, sediment transport, etc.). Additional project monitoring continued in 2022.
Upper Colorado River Watershed Group's Restoration of the North Fork of the Colorado River addresses impacts from the East Troublesome Fire. The 1st phase of this project completed watershed assessments and pilot treatments in collaboration with the Fire on the Mountain, Inc, a locally based 501(c)3 group supporting wildfire education, preparedness and restoration. continued in 2022). Education and outreach was also completed at the Live Water Festival and Troublesome Fest, as well as various citizen science workshops and events in Grand Lake, Colorado.
Middle Colorado Watershed Council's project addresses sediment and nutrient impacts to Silt Water Conservancy District after the Grizzly Creek Fire. This project was continued in 2022, and includes BMP implementation, continued monitoring in partnership with USGS, and developing a dashboard for seven different water providers affected by the Grizzly Creek Fire.
Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative's Idlewild Canyon project addressed impacts from the Spring Creek Fire in 2018. Over 125 treatments were installed in Idlewild Canyon (e.g. bank protection, flood deflector logs/sills, increasing floodplain connectivity, grade control structures such as V-structures and crib walls, and ramps to direct flows past bankfull to the floodplain). These treatments could prevent significant amounts of sediment that cause exacerbated flooding downstream near La Veta, Colorado.
Finally, the Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed began a post-wildfire project related to the Cameron Peak Fire that is expected to be completed in June 2025. The Cameron Peak Fire burned over 208,000 acres in Larimer and Jackson Counties and in Rocky Mountain National Park in 2020. Significant portions of the Upper Colorado, South Platte, and Poudre River watersheds were burned. The majority of the land affected was identified as moderate to high burn severity in the Forest Service’s Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) Report with 90 -100% certainty that water quality would be impacted by post-fire debris flows, run-off, ash flows, sedimentation and nutrient loading within one to three years after the fire.
This project began with community outreach about the fire recovery efforts by creating a Story Map and engaging the community about the planning and upcoming implementation of mitigation efforts. The Story Map engages and informs viewers on the fire and the long-term restoration efforts. To date, the map has had over 2,500 views.
The Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed installed 258 point mitigation features on approximately 40 high-priority acres for post-fire restoration, including approximately 500 linear feet of tree fell treatments, 2,880 linear feet of wattles, 15 branch wattles, 25 willow wattles, 26 willow fences, 13 native rock installations, 6 wood headcut aprons, and 4 single log installations. These installations have resulted in over 2,000 cubic yards of sediment being prevented from entering the Poudre River Watershed.
This project will continue fire recovery efforts through 2025 using Section 319 NPS funding.
Urbanization
The NPS Program provided financial and technical support to five watershed implementation urbanization projects during FFY22:
- Lincoln Hills Cares - NPS Pollution Reduction Action Plan for the South Platte River (this project is continuing planning and completing implementation starting in 2023);
- Groundwork Denver - NPS Pollution Reduction in Lower Bear Creek (South Platte Basin); and
- Town of Vail - Phase II and III (Upper Colorado/North Platte Basin)..
The NPS Program provided financial and technical assistance to Lincoln Hills Cares that resulted in the NPS Pollution Action Plan, " Our Rivers, Our Voices, Our Future: A Youth-to-Youth Guide to a Healthier South Platte River ". This document was created by the South Platte River Advisory Youth (SPRAY) Council in Collaboration with Lincoln Hills Cares, El Laboratorio, Wright Water Engineers, and the Colorado Water Center. Lincoln Hills Cares held several education and outreach events for members of the community and helped form the South Platte River Advisory Council (SPRAY) as part of larger efforts under EPA's Urban Waters Program . This action plan builds on the recommendations made in the TMDL for segment 15 and a previous plan developed by the youth council. The current implementation project is the next step to implement activities identified in the SPRAY pollution reduction plan. Additionally, this project was the first project funded under the NPS Program's new approach to integrate health equity and environmental justice (HE/EJ) considerations into the NPS Program by giving priority points to applicants meeting HE/EJ factors into the annual Request for Applications process. These projects help the NPS Program meet milestone #3 and #4 (objective 2) and all the milestones under objective 4.
The Groundwork Denver, Inc. project included E. coli, metals and nutrients monitoring, community training on rain barrel installation, community outreach on septic maintenance and issues, and a trash survey at outfalls to identify potential NPS pollution contributors. This project addressed milestone #2 (objective 1), #1 and #3 (objective 2), and #1-3 (objective 4).
The Phase II Restore the Gore project (Westhaven Drive Stormwater Treatment Project) was completed through a partnership between the Town of Vail (TOV) and Hotel Talisa, a major commercial lodging property with a parking garage on an 11 acre campus that straddles both banks of Gore Creek. The Project addressed sediment from stormwater discharged from Interstate 70, the South Frontage Road, the Hotel Talisa parking structure and Westhaven Drive into Gore Creek via stormwater conveyances. Before the project was completed, stormwater from this drainage flowed into Gore Creek untreated. The project incorporated lessons learned from other stormwater mitigation projects completed in Vail and utilized BMPs, including a continuous deflection separation (CDS) unit to treat for targeted pollutants before stormwater from this drainage is discharged into Gore Creek. Initial results suggest that urban rainfall-derived runoff is not a significant source of metals (e.g. arsenic, cadmium, chromium, dissolved copper, nickel and selenium). This project is expected to be completed early 2023. An additional sediment control project was approved by the Water Quality Control Commission for funding that will install up to 200 inlet filtration devices in stormwater inlets in the high visibility pedestrian areas of Vail Village and Lionshead Village that can capture 60-120 pounds of sediment and trash annually. This project will be complete December of 2027.
NPS Watershed Planning and Tool Development Program
The NPS Program provided financial and technical assistance for the following watershed planning efforts to address milestones#1 (objective 1) and #2 (objective 2):
- Grand Valley Watershed Plan Update (completed 04/2022);
- Chaffee County Upper Arkansas River Watershed-Based Plan (contracting); and
- Purgatoire Watershed-Based Plan Update (contracting).
The Chaffee County and Purgatoire Watershed Plans will be result in an integrated watershed plan that merge the Nine Elements of Watershed-Based Planning with the nuts and bolts of Stream Management Plans . Both watershed plan projects already completed phase 1 of the Stream Management Plan process. More information on these merged watershed plans is found below under the NPS Alliance section.
Selenium Modeling
The NPS Program provided financial assistance (almost $0.5M) to Colorado State University to develop a simulation model to assess selenium transport in the Lower Arkansas River Basin between John Martin Reservoir and the Colorado/Kansas state line. Management strategies were identified to decrease selenium concentrations in groundwater and surface water in the Lower Arkansas River Basin. The 1st phase of this project was completed December 2021, with a 2nd phase slated to be complete December 2022.
Over the previous decades, selenium in both groundwater and surface water in the Lower Arkansas River Basin has become elevated above chronic standards for livestock (20 μg/L, groundwater), humans (50 μg/L, groundwater), and fish populations (4.6 μg/L, surface water). The Lower Arkansas River Basin contains bedrock formations and surface outcrops of marine shale and limestone, which serve as a source of selenium in adjacent and overlying soils. In irrigated areas, as excess irrigation and canal seepage water comes into contact with the marine shale, dissolved oxygen and nitrate (NO3) in the water oxidizes immobile selenium into a dissolved form, leading to the transport of selenium eventually to the river. Besides triggering the release of selenium from marine shale, nitrate also prevents dissolved forms of selenium from being chemically reduced to immobile forms. The resulting concentration of dissolved selenium in the surface water can rise to levels that may threaten aquatic life.
The 1st phase of this project collected and analyzed sediment, soil and surface water samples to better understand the magnitude, timing and spatial distribution of selenium transport within the watershed. Data collection also included precipitation, stream flows and sediment loading to waterbodies to build a database for the USGS finite difference model MODFLOW (a model used to simulate groundwater flow, stream flow, and all major sources and sinks of pollutants in a watershed) and RT3D-OTIS model (a coupled reactive transport model for selenium and nitrogen transport). The database was calibrated and tested to simulate a variety of future conditions to then evaluate best available situations to address NPS sources of selenium loading.
The following management strategies were simulated to assess their influence on selenium and nitrogen loading and concentration in groundwater and surface water:
- Reduction in applied irrigation water;
- Riparian vegetation enhancement;
- Treatment of agricultural runoff water;
- Rotational land fallowing of irrigated land; and
- Reduction in canal seepage.
The 2nd phase of this project identified 40-year forecasting results of the above BMPs for:
- Hydrologic fluxes;
- Selenium and nitrate fluxes;
- Spatial distribution of loads; and
- In-stream concentration and flows.
The riparian enhancement strategy was found to have the strongest effect on in-stream selenium concentrations and loads, followed by irrigation reduction and land fallowing. Land fallowing and irrigation reduction were found to have the strongest impact on selenium groundwater concentrations.
Alternately, only the riparian enhancement practice was found to show any appreciable affect on in-stream nitrate concentrations. Groundwater nitrate concentrations were found to decrease by irrigation reduction, land fallowing, and canal seepage reduction.
These results will allow the department and stakeholders to better understand controlling nonpoint sources of selenium and nitrate. Data generated from the USGS finite difference model MODFLOW and RT3D-OTIS model tested for this region will also help Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and alternative plan development.
2022 NPS Management Plan Progress
The 2022 NPS Management Plan was approved by the Water Quality Control Commission on April 11, 2022 and approved by EPA on August 2, 2022. Below is a summary of progress under the updated NPS Management Plan from April 11, 2022 - September 30, 2022.
Objective #1: Build local capacity for sustainable NPS watershed restoration and protection actions.
NPS project sponsors that receive NPS funding need to have sufficient technical and financial capacity to develop and implement watershed-based plans. Project sponsors must also have the capacity to properly administer NPS funding and manage NPS projects. The NPS Program is focusing efforts on providing technical assistance to build capacity needed to develop adequate watershed plans and effectively implement BMPs to restore and protect waterbodies.
Milestones for objective #1 include:
- Develop guidance documents to help project sponsors accurately document and report load reductions (NPS Project Reporting and Form/Project Cover Page for watershed planning projects and implementation projects (2) - complete; remaining guidance documents ongoing);
- Develop and update a BMP toolkit for use by project sponsors (ongoing - expected completion Summer 2024);
- Provide outreach to project sponsors on the request for applications process and project requirements (RFA #41051 complete; general outreach ongoing);
- Develop materials for NPS Alliance outreach on technical and financial assistance (Stream Management Plan/Watershed-Based Plan Crosswalk complete - see below under the NPS Alliance section for more information; remaining materials ongoing);
- Coordinate with the NPS Alliance on partnership opportunities through the Farm Bill (ongoing); and
- Identify innovative cost sharing opportunities to assist in match requirements for project sponsors (ongoing).
Objective #2: Educate NPS partners and the public about the importance of NPS pollution management
Given the voluntary nature of NPS pollution management, stakeholder buy-in is a crucial component to achieve success for the NPS Program. The NPS Program previously partnered with Corona Insights to conduct 3 water quality surveys to learn more about public perceptions surrounding water quality and NPS pollution in Colorado. The outcomes of those 2007, 2014/2015 and 2021 surveys and focus group discussions are the focus of a new marketing campaign that will begin in 2023. This NPS Program water quality marketing campaign will educate the public and influence their behaviors with the goal of reducing NPS pollution, with a focus on nutrients.
Milestones for objective #2 include:
- Create and maintain a user-friendly website to engage the public and share NPS-related information (website updated - complete; annual updates ongoing);
- Develop an interactive project map with details on BMPs implemented and related water quality benefits (ongoing);
- Develop and distribute NPS educational materials (e.g. modules and messaging approaches) for use by project sponsors and NPS partners for consistent messaging on NPS pollution (infographs ongoing - expected completion of Agriculture Infograph Spring 2024);
- Develop and distribute a signage template to use to identify NPS project sites (ongoing - expected completion Spring 2023);
- Develop a publicly-accessible StoryMap to highlight important NPS water quality successes (ongoing);
- Publish the NPS Program’s Annual Report as a StoryMap for greater outreach to the public (annual StoryMap complete);
- Implement the NPS Mini Grant Program (about 30 Mini Grant projects were completed under Section 319 grant workplans from 2017-2022; ongoing);
- Promote successes by marketing the NPS Program’s Success Stories (ongoing);
- Participate in statewide committees integral to NPS pollution management (ongoing); and
- Host an annual BMP Field Day to share lessons learned from NPS pollution prevention and restoration activities (e.g. forestry field days, discovery farms) (Kansas/Colorado Lower Arkansas Tour May 2022; 2023 plans underway).
Objective #3: Characterize the extent of NPS-impacted watersheds to target technical and financial resources.
Watershed characterization is a critical pre-cursor to watershed implementation project success. Understanding the extent of NPS pollution sources is also important to identifying the NPS pollutant load reductions needed for the waterbody of interest to meet water quality standards and to decrease potential threats to waterbodies. The NPS Program released its 1st RFA under the updated NPS Management Plan, which included an annual review of waterbodies for the targeted basin under the rotating basin schedule. The NPS Program will continue outreach on prioritized projects for upcoming solicitations, and continue to evaluate assessment needs to aid in the watershed planning process.
Milestones for objective #3 include:
- Develop a Watershed Planning Guidance (complete);
- Participation in the NPS Alliance Annual Planning Session (annual complete);
- Participation in division basin teams to identify basin-specific issues to target (ongoing);
- Identify targeted restoration and protection project areas based on waterbody listings, local capacity, and NPS Program priorities (proposal priorities developed and published with RFA #41051 release; ongoing for future RFAs);
- Provide financial and technical assistance for new and/or updated WBPs (see watershed plan section above - 1 watershed plan update was completed, and 2 watershed plan projects begin in 2023; annual ongoing);
- Develop a tracking tool for priorities identified in WBPs (Watershed Plan Tracking Tool complete);
- Characterization of current and forecasted nutrient loads (ongoing); and
- Evaluate water quality baseline data and trend assessments for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, selenium and E. coli (ongoing).
Objective #4: Reduce NPS pollution impacts to Colorado’s waters.
The NPS Program will provide financial and technical assistance to targeted restoration and protection projects, focus efforts on nutrient management and unregulated stormwater runoff management, as well as implement disaster (wildfires and flooding) related projects to decrease NPS pollutant loading. Since the intention behind the NPS Program is to meet the necessary load reductions to achieve water quality standards, the NPS Program will focus efforts during this updated management plan timeframe (2022-2027) on providing project sponsors technical assistance to identify needed load reductions, track NPS pollutant reductions, and track restoration and protection successes to meet the NPS Program’s goal.
Milestones for objective #4 include:
- Implement Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) load allocations through funding support for BMP implementation projects (Load Reduction Guidance expected completion Summer 2025);
- Develop load reduction guidance documents to help project sponsors comply with EPA requirements to report load reductions (Load Reduction Guidance expected completion Summer 2025);
- Promote the use of hydro-geomorphic models and CSU’s Environmental Risk and Management System to identify load reductions from BMP implementation (ongoing);
- Continue working with NPS partners on BMP implementation to reduce nutrient loading (currently, 25 NPS projects incorporate nutrients reduction; ongoing);
- Explore innovative incentives for nutrient reduction (ongoing); and
- Implement the Success Story Initiative and publish one Success Story to EPA (Success Story Published - annual ongoing).
Objective #5: Build partnerships critical to NPS pollution management and stay relevant under Colorado’s changing climate and landscape.
The nonregulatory nature of NPS pollution management requires building and maintaining partnerships, and approaching NPS pollution management through a coordinated and collaborative multi-pronged approach. Given Colorado’s changing climate and landscape with the prospect of further substantial population growth, the NPS Alliance Planning Session and annual prioritization process is an opportunity to coordinate efforts to address emerging NPS needs. Watershed planning and watershed implementation projects are opportunities to expand partnerships to communities that have been disproportionately impacted by economic and environmental impacts. The NPS Program will provide technical and financial assistance to disproportionately impacted communities and participate in ongoing discussions with EPA on identifying actions to support these communities.
Milestones for objective #5 include:
- Participate in the NPS Alliance Planning Session to leverage financial assistance and integrate planning efforts (annual complete);
- Coordinate with Natural Resources Conservation Services on selection and implementation of National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) watersheds, including source water protection priorities (annual NWQI monitoring complete; other efforts ongoing);
- Monitor one National Water Quality Initiative watershed (annual complete);
- Continued participation in the department’s Health Equity/Environmental Justice collaborative on solutions to address health equity, environmental justice, and other equity, diversity, and inclusion concerns (ongoing);
- Incorporate priority points into the annual request for applications process for watershed-based planning and watershed implementation projects in disproportionately impacted communities (RFA #41051 includes priority points for disproportionately impacted communities);
- Participation in discussions with EPA on actions that put more focus on disproportionately impacted communities in the delivery of NPS program benefits (ongoing); and
- Provide technical and financial assistance to one protection project per year (see forestry project with the USDA Forest Service highlighted below in the NPS Alliance section - annual complete).
Objective #6: Ensure efficient and effective NPS Program administration.
EPA requirements for Section 319 grant awards include efficient and effective program management to meet satisfactory progress. The NPS Program will ensure appropriate grant administration and reporting requirements, including evaluating its objectives and milestones in conjunction with the program’s annual Section 319 grant workplan through annual reporting to EPA to assess and improve the NPS Program. Similarly, the NPS Program will evaluate completed projects using a project review matrix to assist with the Success Story Initiative and inform future management decisions.
Milestones for objective #6 include:
- Submit annual report to EPA (annual complete);
- Enter load reductions into EPA’s Grants Reporting and Tracking System (annual complete);
- Enter mandated elements into EPA’s Grants Reporting and Tracking System (annual complete);
- Enter water quality data into EPA’s Water Quality Exchange (ongoing);
- Complete an Abandoned Mine Land BMP Effectiveness Study (expected completion fall 2023);
- Develop a project review matrix to evaluate BMP effectiveness after project completion (on hold for now);
- Continue utilizing the Success Story Tracking Tool for tracking and identifying potential success stories (Success Story Tracking Tool developed and ongoing use for future success stories); and
- Conduct annual consistency reviews between state and federal programs (on hold for now).
Success Story: Reducing Selenium Impacts in a Segment of the Lower South Platte River
Lower South Platte River
The NPS Program submitted a success story to EPA for FFY22 for the removal of mainstem of the Lower South Platte River (from the Weld County/Morgan County line to the Colorado/Nebraska border) from the 303(d) list of impaired waters.
The Lower South Platte River (COSPLS01a and COSPLS01b) is an important water resource protected for drinking water, aquatic life, recreation, and agriculture uses. Based on 2003–2008 data, the 85th percentile of selenium concentration was as high as 12.36 micrograms per liter (µg/L) - exceeding the selenium aquatic life standard of 4.6 µg/L. The Water Quality Control Commission added these segments of the South Platte River to Colorado’s list of impaired waters in 2010.
Mobilized selenium can bioaccumulate through the food chain, sometimes reaching levels that are toxic to fish and wildlife and resulting in deformities in developing fish. Selenium pollution is commonly associated with agricultural irrigation activities that lead to selenium entering groundwater and surface water, particularly in areas influenced by selenium-releasing Cretaceous deposits of Pierre Shales.
When considering selenium, nitrate concentrations in groundwater is a primary influence on redox conditions that affect selenium speciation and therefore mobility and discharge to surface waters. BMPs for selenium include reduced fertilizer application, buffer strips, and reducing seepage through increasing irrigation efficiency such as canal/ditch lining and piping, and irrigation method changes such as sprinkler systems.
The NPS Program funded watershed-based plans for the Lower South Platte that was published in 2012, and one for Lower Beaver Creek, a tributary to the Lower South Platte, that was published in 2017 (a Beaver Creek watershed plan was completed in 2005 as well). These watershed plans identified projects to address water quality concerns from irrigated croplands, including installing sprinkler pivots on furrow irrigated cropland. Specifically, the 2012 Lower South Platte watershed plan identified projects to address selenium to remove segments of the Lower South Platte from the 303(d) list of impaired waters. Since those watershed plans, many local producers voluntarily implemented BMPs using Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) funding (about $28.4 million on the average in Colorado, annually). For example, NRCS awarded 58 land treatment contracts, including about 30 contracts converting furrow irrigated land to sprinkler pivots under the 2005 Beaver Creek Watershed Plan. Furthermore, NRCS data show that 20 different irrigation BMPs were implemented, including sprinkler systems, piping, nutrient management, and prescribed grazing.
Based on Colorado Division of Water Resources (DWR) data from 2005-2015, sprinkler irrigated areas increased from 79,412 acres to 108,209. Flood-irrigated areas decreased from 85,258 to 53,591 acres.
The division, the voluntary Colorado River Watch program, and the Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation District continued collecting data at several monitoring stations along the Lower South Platte from 2014–2018. Although there were two exceedances in the data, the 85th percentile of the 57 samples was 3.75 µg/L, which is below the 4.6 µg/L standard threshold. Because data showed that the Lower South Platte River segment was attaining the aquatic life use-based standards for dissolved selenium, the commission removed it from the 2020 list of impaired waters for selenium.
The Nonpoint Source Alliance
The Colorado Nonpoint Source (NPS) Alliance is a volunteer group, meeting to address NPS issues statewide as well as work with the NPS Program to provide technical consultation on NPS planning activities and watershed implementation project application review. The NPS Alliance interacts with watershed groups and other partners and stakeholders as part of the NPS program’s public outreach. NPS partners within the NPS Alliance leverage funding to help meet the match requirements under Section 319. Current NPS Alliance members include representatives from other division programs, state and federal agencies, educational institutions and non-profit organizations.
The mission of the NPS Alliance is:
"To collaboratively protect, restore, and improve Colorado’s water quality with a focus on nonpoint source pollution management and integrated solutions."
Working Collaboratively...
Nonpoint source pollution control in Colorado is unregulated, which means that NPS pollution control strategies depend on voluntary action by landowners. Successfully securing cooperation to achieve measurable water quality improvements requires building and maintaining partnerships, actively strengthening public involvement through outreach and education, and leveraging financial and technical assistance. Further, NPS pollution control strategies depend on a combination of state and federal programs to coordinate efforts in planning, monitoring, assessment, and implementation of NPS projects.
The NPS Alliance hosts an annual planning session to coordinate priorities for strategic monitoring and assessment for more informed characterization of NPS pollution impacts, and to coordinate watershed planning and watershed implementation projects. The NPS Program then provides targeted outreach if it is determined through this prioritization process that additional technical assistance is needed to build capacity to develop adequate watershed plans and effectively implement BMPs to restore and protect waterbodies.
Technical Assistance
The NPS Alliance provides technical input on applications received through the NPS Program's annual Request for Applications process. NPS Alliance members act as a pool of subject matter experts to provide input to improve the technical aspects of projects with additional resources shared to project sponsors as needed.
In an effort to make the planning process easier for project sponsors, while still fulfilling funding requirements for the NPS Program, the NPS Program worked with NPS Alliance members to identify ways to merge Colorado Water Conservation Board's nuts and bolts of Stream Management Plans with the 9 Elements of Watershed-Based Plans.
The end result of watershed-based planning is implementing best management practices (BMPs) prioritized in the plan to meet the necessary load reductions to achieve water quality standards (i.e. the “Action Strategy”). The elements act as a roadmap for successful implementation of the Action Strategy, and need to be included in the watershed-based plan in order to provide an analytic framework to restore water quality.
Similarly, the nuts and bolts of Stream Management Planning follow a standard planning process, but may not focus on an action strategy to restore water quality.
Merging these two types of plans can help project sponsors be prepared for a variety of funding requirements while also addressing stakeholder concerns for their watershed in a holistic manner with a focus on implementation projects to address those concerns, including impacts to water quality and quantity. To help with this, the NPS Program developed a crosswalk on how Stream Management Plan steps and the required 9 Elements of Watershed-Based Planning overlap. The Chaffee County and Purgatoire watershed plans mentioned above will be pilots in merging these two types of watershed plans.
Contact the NPS Program for more information on watershed planning:
Estella Moore, NPS Program Coordinator estella.moore@state.co.us
More information on the NPS Alliance is available at npscolorado.com
NPS Partner Spotlight
USDA Forest Service
The First Creek Stream and Riparian Restoration project was completed in 2022, with final operation and maintenance planned to be complete in 2023. This protection project is in coordination with Trout Unlimited, USDA Forest Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife to restore and reconnect First Creek in the headwaters of the Elkhead Creek watershed.
This project will improve water quality near Hayden, Colorado and restore Native Cutthroat Trout populations in an area impacted by grazing (e.g. tens of thousands of cattle passed along through this area on the historical "Beef Trail" between 1870 and 1920s), timber harvesting, and recreation (see Maxwell et al. 2021). The Forest Service designated this area, California Park, as a Special Interest Management Prescription Area in the 1997 Routt National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan beacuse of the important biological diversity of the area.
This project addresses headcutting, degradation, bank erosion and channel widening and was identified as a high priority watershed for restoration efforts due to the impacts to the aquatic communities. Addressing degradation of the watershed provides benefits to water quality by decreasing erosion and sedimentation which negatively affects wetlands and fisheries habitat. Sediment affects spawning beds and macroinvertebrates that trout rely on for their success.
BMPs implemented include:
- 3.0 miles of stream channel improved;
- re-vegetation with native plants;
- 1.6 acres of wetlands created;
- 5.4 acres of riparian areas created/enhanced; and
- 41 acres fenced
Citations
Maxwell, Dillon M.; Rhoades, Charles C.; Bramwell, Lincoln; Paschke, Mark W. 2021. A history of land use and vegetation change in California Park, a high-elevation rangeland in northwestern Colorado. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-427. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 20 p. https://doi.org/10.2737/RMRS-GTR-427 .
U.S. EPA. 2007. National Management Measures to Control Nonpoint Source Pollution from Hydromodification. Nonpoint Source Control Branch. Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds.