Unprecedented drought, wildfires, and historical low river flows and reservoir levels have captured headlines for months. It’s no secret that water managers throughout the Colorado River Basin are grappling with the realities of having less water in the system. 

Right here in the Yampa River Basin, Stagecoach Reservoir releases have bolstered river flows since late March and now most of the flows in the Yampa are coming from Stagecoach and Elkhead Reservoirs, but it still isn’t enough to meet minimum instream flow rates or keep water temperatures below critical thresholds. We can easily look around and see there is less water, but what about water quality? Perhaps you’ve noticed more algae in our rivers, streams, and lakes this year too.  

As our climate has become hotter and drier, impacts on water quality are also becoming increasingly apparent. Algal blooms are a growing problem in reservoirs across the state, even in high alpine lakes that are undisturbed by human use. If the solution to pollution is dilution and we have less water in the system overall, we may have new problems on our hands. 

Water quantity has always been a concern in the West and we have decades of data to prove it. Water quality is different story though – data collection has been sparse and sporadic. It’s hard to identify changes in water quality over time when the data doesn’t exist to establish a baseline.

That’s why the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District developed an Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring Program for the Upper Yampa Watershed and Stagecoach Reservoir over three years ago.  Each year from May through November, water samples are collected from eight locations in the watershed upstream of Stagecoach Reservoir and from five locations within the reservoir at various elevations to monitor general chemistry, nutrients, and physical parameters – along with phytoplankton and cyanotoxin analysis when algal blooms are present. 

This water quality database is being used for the development of two water quality models, one for the Upper Yampa Watershed and the other specifically for Stagecoach Reservoir. The watershed model considers inputs like land use, soil, and point sources to model water quality loading and streamflow. The in-reservoir model considers additional inputs like reservoir bathymetry and pumping to model water quality conditions, water levels, and chlorophyll-a. Both water quality models are expected to be complete by 2027, but annual water quality reports are already helping the District better understand existing water quality conditions as we move through unprecedented drought. 

Right now, we know that point sources in the Upper Yampa Watershed do not exceed water quality standards. We don’t know the long-term water quality impacts of chronic high temperatures and low flows in a year like this, but now we have a baseline to monitor changes in the future and soon, we’ll have the tools to model any range of potential impacts, including historical drought and changing land use patterns.

If you’d like to learn more about the District’s Enhanced Water Quality Monitoring and Modeling, please join us at the Western Resilience Center Community Meeting on August 26^th from 1-2 p.m. where you’ll hear form UYWCD general manager, Andy Rossi. Register here https://westernresilience.org/events-archive/western-resilience-community-meeting-372-444-744-406/ to receive the virtual meeting link.

Find more information including our full 2025 Water Quality Report at https://www.upperyampawater.gov/water-quality-monitoring and explore water quality data at youryamapriver.org. 

Holly Kirkpatrick is the public affairs manager for the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District.