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Ground-Water Availability Analysis of the Denver Ground-Water Basin

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Ground-Water Availability Analysis of the Denver Ground-Water Basin

Study Area: Denver Basin, Colorado
Period of Project: 2004-2007
Project Number: BCF00
Project Chief: Suzanne Paschke

BACKGROUND:

The Denver ground-water basin is an important and non-renewable source of water for municipal, industrial, and domestic uses in the Denver and Colorado Springs metropolitan areas. Since initial evaluation by the USGS in the early 1980’s, there has been extensive development of the Denver Basin aquifers especially near the center of the basin in Douglas and El Paso Counties, where rapid urban growth continues and there is a lack of surface-water supplies. Douglas County is experiencing the fastest housing growth of any county in the United States according to 2002 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, and much of this growth relies on Denver Basin aquifers for water supply. Additional development of Denver Basin aquifers is occurring in response to the current drought of 2000-2003 as the large, surface-water dominated supply systems of Denver, Aurora, and Colorado Springs are developing ground-water resources for supplemental water supply.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To enhance understanding of regional ground-water flow and aquifer storage in the Denver Basin and surficial aquifers.
2. To evaluate water-level declines, changes in aquifer storage, and stream-flow depletions resulting from Denver Basin aquifer pumping and predict future conditions based on projected water-use estimates.
3. To evaluate the existing water-level monitoring and recommend improvements.