# Presentation: 766407

## Ground-Water Resources Investigations as Part of the Front Range Infrastructure Resources Project (FRIRP)

**U.S. Department of the Interior**
**U.S. Geological Survey**

## What is the FRIRP?

**Cooperative Effort Among Four Divisions of the USGS**
**Biologic**
**Geologic**
**National Mapping**
**Water Resources**

## What is Infrastructure?

**Roads**
**Airports**
**Water and Energy Transmission and Distribution Facilities**
**Sewage Treatment Plants**
**Others**

## Infrastructure Issues

**Difficult to Mine Gravel Under a Subdivision**
**Build-up of Open Land Diminishes Ground-Water Recharge Areas**
**Endangered Species Act Prohibits Taking Natural Resources From Animals That Need Them for Survival**

## Purpose of the FRIRP

**Develop Information, Define Tools, and Demonstrate Ways to Evaluate Infrastructure Resources**
**Determine Projected Needs for Infrastructure Resources**

## Purpose of the FRIRP

**Identify Issues Affecting the Availability of Resources**
**Provide Decision Makers with Tools to Evaluate Alternatives**

## Scope of the Study

**45-Quadrangle Demonstration Area Scheduled for Completion in 1999**
**Expansion of the Study Area South to the Arkansas River Valley**
**Completion of the Expanded Area in 2001**

## Location of the Study Area

## Project Goals

**Integrate Resource and Geographic Data in Common Format**
**Link Data to Models for Decision-Making by Stakeholders**
**Communicate and Exchange Information with Stakeholders**

## Project Goals

**Address Sustainability of Infrastructure Resources in Rapidly Growing Areas of the Front Range Urban Corridor**
**Resource Use Competes with Other Land Uses**
**Strive for Multiple Use and Benefit From a Resource**

## Project Goals

**Develop Standards and Spatial Databases **
**Compile and Digitize Existing Data on Natural Resources, Aggregate, Water, Energy, Cartography, and Land Use**
**Identify Areas Where New Data are Required**
**Collect, Interpret, and Map the Data**

## Project Goals

**Develop Models that Relate Resource Occurrence to:**
**Quality and Quantity**
**Land Use and Availability**
**Environmental and Land Use Impacts**

## Water Resources Issues

**Water is Important to the Construction and Maintenance of Infrastructure**
**Availability of Ground Water can Limit Use of the Land in Areas of Shallow Water Tables**
**Aggregate Mining can be Limited by Water Rights Issues Associated with Gravel Pits**

## Water Resources Investigations

**Location and Thickness of the Aquifers**
**Altitude of the Water Table and Direction of Ground Water Movement**
**Depth to Water Table**
**Saturated Thickness of the Aquifers**
**Altitude of the Buried Bedrock Surface Beneath the Aquifers**

## Water Resources Investigations

**Water Quality Characteristics of the Shallow Aquifers**
**Potential Land Use Affects on Shallow Ground-Water Quality**
**Ground-Water Quality Concerns**
**Trends in Ground-Water Quality**

## Stratigraphy of the Front Range Aquifers 

## Aquifer Recharge

## Land Use at Selected Wells

## Land Use and Water Quality

## Water Quality Constituents - 1950(median concentrations)

## Water Quality Constituents - 1960(median concentrations)

## Water Quality Constituents - 1970(median concentrations)

## Water Quality Constituents - 1980(median concentrations)

## Water Quality Constituents - 1990(median concentrations)

## Water Resources Publications

**Robson, S.G., 1996, Geohydrology of the shallow aquifers in the Denver metropolitan area, Colorado, U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Investigations Atlas HA-736, 5 sheets, scale 1:50,000.**
**Robson, S.G., Van Slyke, George, and Graham, Glenn, 1998, Structure, outcrop, and subcrop of the bedrock aquifers along the western margin of the Denver Basin, Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Investigations Atlas HA-742, 5 sheets, scale 1:50,000.**

## Water Resources Publications

**Robson, S.G. and Heiny, J.S., 1998, Front Range Infrastructure Resources Project, Water-Resources Activities. U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet, 113-98, 4 p.**
**Four HA’s covering the 45-quad demonstration area, similar to the Denver Metro report by Robson, 1996 (HA-736)**
**Retrospective report on ground-water quality for entire study area (WRIR)**

## Final Products of the FRIRP

**An Integrated Digital Geospatial Database**
**Models for Assessing the Integration Between Land Use and Resource Availability**
**A Decision Support System for Use by Planners and Managers in Making Future Land Use Decisions**

## FRIRP Web Site

- Http://webserver.cr.usgs.gov/frirp/home.html