**U.S.     GEOLOGICAL SURVEY  Open-File Report 03-286**

**Water-Quality   Data for Walnut Canyon and Wupatki National   Monuments, Arizona--2001-02**

# **View   full report in PDF (2,512 KB)**

# **Prepared   in cooperation with the  NATIONAL PARK SERVICE**

**By   Blakemore E. Thomas**

**ABSTRACT**

   Water-quality data are provided for four sites in Walnut Canyon and Wupatki   National Monuments in north-central Arizona. These data describe the current   water quality and provide baseline water-quality information for monitoring   future trends.  Water samples were collected from a ground-water seep and well in Walnut Canyon   and from a spring and a river in Wupatki during September 2001 to September   2002. Water from the four sites is from four different sources. In Walnut Canyon,   Cherry Canyon seep is in a shallow local aquifer, and the Little Colorado River   contains ground-water discharge from several aquifers and runoff from a 22,000   square-mile drainage area.  Concentrations of dissolved solids were similar within the two monuments; the   range for water samples from Walnut Canyon was 203 to 248 milligrams per liter,   and the range for water samples from Wupatki was 503 to 614 milligrams per liter.   Concentrations of trace elements were generally low in water samples from the   three ground-water sites--Cherry Canyon seep, Walnut Canyon headquarters well,   and Heiser Spring. The water sample collected from the Little Colorado River,   however, had high concentrations of aluminum (4,020 micrograms per liter), antimony   (54 micrograms per liter), arsenic (14.3 micrograms per liter), and iron (749   micrograms per liter) relative to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Primary   and Secondary Maximum Contaminant Levels.

Concentrations   of nitrate (as nitrogen) in water samples from the four sites were generally   low (0.11 to 1.8 milligrams per liter) and are within the upper 25 percent of   nitrate concentrations measured in the regional aquifer near Flagstaff in 1996   and 1997. Water samples from Cherry Canyon seep, Heiser Spring, and the Little   Colorado River contained total coliform bacteria. Fecal coliform and *Escherichia   coli* bacteria were found in water samples from Cherry Canyon seep and the   Little Colorado River.

# **CONTENTS**

Abstract  Introduction   Methods   Water-quality data   Summary  References cited

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