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ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF OIL SHALE MINING AND PROCESSING. PART III - THE WATER QUALITY OF PICEANCE CREEK, COLORADO, PRIOR TO OIL SHALE PROCESSING
Citation:
Skogerboe, R., C. Lavalle, M. Miller, AND D. Dick. ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF OIL SHALE MINING AND PROCESSING. PART III - THE WATER QUALITY OF PICEANCE CREEK, COLORADO, PRIOR TO OIL SHALE PROCESSING. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/3-79/055.
Description:
Water quality data have been collected at seven sites along Piceance Creek and at one site each along Stewart, Black Sulphur, and Yellow Creeks in the Piceance Basin, Colorado, during 1975-1977. Piceance, Stewart, and Yellow Creeks may be perturbed by oil shale industry activities on the two tracts, C-a and C-b, currently under development. The preoperational water quality is generally poor due to higher levels of dissolved solids, manganese, and both dissolved and suspended iron. It further declined farther downstream primarily due to influxes from groundwater aquifers in contact with soluble mineral beds. The levels of aluminum, cadmium, chromium, lead, and boron were below the detection limits of the analysis method used. These were typically below the permissible levels set for aquatic life by factors of 5-10. The levels of copper, zinc, arsenic, selenium, and mercury were usually measurable but still below permissible.