Water Resources

WATER RESOURCES are important to construction and maintenance of the Nation's infrastructure. The availability of ground water, for example, can limit man's use of the land in areas of shallow water tables, or can preclude mining of aggregate if water rights issues associated with a gravel pit cannot be resolved. The study area has numerous urban, suburban, and rural areas, and is underlain by a complex network of water-bearing sediments (aquifers). These aquifers are less than 20 feet deep in much of the area and are easily tapped by numerous domestic, commercial, and irrigation wells. The shallow depth makes these aquifers easily polluted by spills of hazardous materials, or leaks from underground storage tanks and oil wells. Knowledge of the thickness, extent, and nature of the shallow aquifers is vital to development of natural resources and planning for increasingly urban land use.

To meet the needs for information on shallow ground-water resources the study includes detailed mapping of 1) the location and thickness of the aquifers, 2) the altitude of the water table and direction of ground-water movement, 3) depth to the water table, 4) saturated thickness of the aquifers, 5) altitude of the buried bedrock surface under the aquifers, and 6) the general water-quality characteristics of the aquifers, and 7) the outcrop and subcrop of bedrock aquifers underlying the shallow aquifers.

Water Research and Support Activities
Research Activities	Shallow Aquifers Poster	Bedrock Aquifer Poster	Ground-water Quality Poster
	Mapping Shallow Aquifers	Mapping Bedrock Aquifers	Front Range Water Quality
Products & People		Digital Data	Publications	Personnel