Source Water Assessment
for the Cache la Poudre River

An EPA National Pilot

Data Resources

A notable step in modern source water assessment is data collection.  A wide variety of data sources exist that provide spatial GIS information useful in this work.  Some reside online and can be freely downloaded via the internet and others (especially local data) can be requested on CD or FTP (file transfer protocol.)  The following is a list of all relevant data located in the course of our study.  It includes links, contact information, and points to online metadata where available.

These do not include many potential data sources we examined but were not able to use. In many instances the data available from a particular source is changing continually.

Fort Collins Utilities

The Fort Collins Water Utilities department provided a wealth of valuable local insight and several data resources. Contact Ben Alexander for more information.

• Source Water Intakes
  
• Transbasin Diversions
• Improved Natural Watershed
  
• North / South Cache la Poudre Watershed Boundaries

Larimer County

Larimer County maintains a wealth of local GIS data we found invaluable in the creation of numerous maps. Contact Dan Kunis to for assistance obtaining any of this data.

• Land Use 1987
  
• Land Use 1992 by parcel
  
• ISDS (Septic system) Status (proxy) by parcel
  
• Zoning for Larimer County
• Agricultural Land Use

Colorado State University

CSU hosts the Natural Diversity Information Source which provided a useful land ownership coverage.

• Colorado Land Stewardship Mapping - Land Ownership (entire county)

Arapahoe-Roosevelt National Forest (ARNF)

The Arapahoe & Roosevelt National Forest provided several highly useful data sets for lands which they managed within our assessment area. Contact Dave Gloss, their Hydrologist, for more information about these resources.

• Forest Management Areas
  
• Forest Transportation Routes

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE)

CDPHE maintains the Source Water Assessment and Protection website. There you will find the plan this project follows and other relevant information and resources. They also provide several useful GIS resources.

• Major Watersheds
• Continental Divide
• Wellhead Protection Areas (preliminary)

Colorado Geological Survey (CGS)

The Colorado Geological Survey collects and maintains several GIS coverages that useful in the assessment of sourcewater. Contact Matt Sares for more information.

• Mine Inventory Areas (environmentally rated)
  
• Mine Openings (environmentally rated)
  
• Mine Tailing Piles (environmentally rated)
  
• Government Land Status
  
• USGS DRG (Scanned topo line maps)
  
• Topographic Relief Map

Colorado State Oil Inspection Section

The State Oil Inspection Section maintains a complete list of aboveground and underground storage tanks located throughout the state. These locations (mostly street address) can be obtained online and geocoded for use with a GIS system. However, many of these addresses were unlocatable due to a variety of factors. Consequently, it is best to first select tanks located within ZIP codes touching the SWAA.

• Leaking Underground Storage Tanks (LUST)
  
• Underground Storage Tanks (UST)
• Aboveground Storage Tanks (AST)

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

EPA houses many easy-to-use GIS data that are invaluable in this research. They host both a National GIS Program and A Regional GIS Data Inventory.

• CERCLA
• Federal Land Boundaries
• National Pollution Discharge
• CERCLIS - Superfund NPL Sites
• Treatment, Storage, & Disposal Facilities
• Vegetation
• Wetland Violations (Section 404)

EPA BASINS

Additionally the EPA provides an extensive BASINS program which includes a complete GIS package (ArcView software and data) for studying watersheds and their environmental impacts.  Anyone can freely download the package for their watershed and apply a wide variety of analysis tools to it.  This is by and far the single most comprehensive source for data useful in these assessments. Note: watershed coverages do not include transbasin diversions which must be obtained seperately.

• USGS WATSTORE Stream Flow Basin
• Characteristics File
  
• Permit Compliance System
  
• Industrial Facilities Discharge Sites
  
• Toxic Release Inventory
  
• National Priority List Sites
  
• Hazardous and Solid Waste Sites
  
• Water Quality Monitoring Stations - STORET
  
• Bacteria Stations
  
• National Sediment Inventory Stations
  
• USGS Gage Stations
  
• Drinking Water Supply Sites
  
• Dam Locations
  
• RF1 - Reach File, V1
  
• RF3 - Reach File Version 3 Alpha
  
• Weather Station Sites
  
• Weather Station Area
  
• WDM Weather Data Stations
  
• Cataloging Unit (HUC)
  
• Accounting Unit Boundaries
  
• EPA Region Boundaries
  
• Ecoregions (Level III)
  
• NAW QA Study Area Unit Boundaries
  
• Mineral Industry Locations (Mines)
  
• Water Quality Observation Stations
  
• 1996 Clean Water Needs Survey
  
• STATSGO - State Soil
  
• Managed Area Database
  
• No Classified Shellfish Area
• Land Cover (called "Land Use")
• Place Names

EPA STORET

The EPA's STORET Program collects detailed water quality data derived from a broad variety of data providers throughout the nation. Extensive histories of water samples can be obtained and associated with the Water Quality Observation Stations (available in BASINS).

• STORET samples (Legacy)

U.S. Census Bureau Tiger/Line

The Census Bureau maintains and updates a popular set of spatial data for use in conjunction with its population, housing, and other census studies. Base map coverages can be easily extacted from these data which can be obtained online for any given county.

• Linear Hydrology (classified manually referencing Gazetteer)
  
• Lakes
  
• Roads and Highways
  
• Railroads
  
• Populated Places
  
• U.S. State Boundaries
  
• County Boundaries
  
• Highways

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

The USGS maintains a variety of GIS data for water resources in addition to general GIS data.

• Agricultural Chemical Use Estimates (by county)
• Herbicaide Use Estiamtes (by county)
• Manure Impact Estimates (by county)
• Nitrogen Fertilyzer Use Estimates (by county)
• USGS Hydrologic Unit (HUC) (Natural Watershed)
  
• USGS 1 degree Digital Elevation Map (DEM)
• 100k USGS DLG Hydrology

ESRI Business Tracker

ESRI, the makers of ArcView and ArcInfo, sell a product called Business Tracker with BusinessMAP PRO. With this software and its packaged data sets, you can extract business locations that are of potential concern in your SWAA. We used this to locate a number of business which were further reviewed with local feedback.

• Businesses by Type

Other Sources

Additional data can be sought online using a number of GIS data clearinghouses.  We've listed some we found useful below.

• Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies - Data Guide
• Colorado FGDC Metadata Search
• Rocky Mountain GIS Cooperative Resource Center & GICC
• Colorado Rockies Regional Cooperative
• Bureau of Transportation Statistics - GIS References
  
• Earth Science data on the Global Land Information System
• Bureau of Land Management - Geospatial Support Team
• National Biological Information Infrastructure - Metadata

Additionally, several agencies provide online tools that allow uses to quickly draw simple maps for basic research. We've listed some we found useful in the preliminary work.

• EPA's Surf Your Watershed
• Boulder Creek Watershed Online Data Resource (BASIN)
• TIGER Mapping Service