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Physical and chemical data from continuous recording monitors, periodic field determinations, and water samples collected at 10 sites on perennial streams and 16 sites on intermittent streams in the Piceance Creek and Yellow Creek drainage basins during the 1977-81 water years are summarized. Methods for estimating dissolved solids concentrations from measurements of specific conductance are presented. Stream temperatures ranged from -0.5 to 35.0 degrees Celsius and were warmest near the downstream reaches of Piceance and Yellow Creeks. Minimum concentrations of dissolved oxygen were greater than 3.0 milligrams per liter in Piceance and Yellow Creeks, and concentrations of dissolved oxygen exceeded saturation during periods of active photosynthesis. Values of pH in streams ranged from 6.9 to 9.0 and were least during snowmelt runoff and greatest in low flows in the lower reaches of Piceance and Yellow Creeks. Concentrations of suspended sediment exceeded 100,000 milligrams per liter in localized runoff. Specific conductance varied inversely with discharge. Sodium, magnesium, bicarbonate, and sulfate ions and concentration ranges of dissolved solids between 400 and 1,700 milligrams per liter were characteristic of the water quality of the perennial streams in areas of the drainage basins near the upstream reaches of Piceance and Yellow Creeks. Calcium and bicarbonate dominated the major ions, and concentrations of dissolved solids normally were less than 600 milligrams per liter in the intermittent streams during storm and snowmelt runoff. Augmentation to Piceance and Yellow Creeks from ground-water sources in the lower reaches of both streams increased concentrations of dissolved solids several thousand milligrams per liter during medium and low flows and caused a change in water-quality type from sodium magnesium bicarbonate to a highpercentage sodium bicarbonate. Increases in dissolved concentrations of arsenic, boron, fluoride, lithium, strontium, and sulfate were related to ground-water sources or discharges from areas of energy resource development. Nutrient concentrations ranging to several milligrams per liter of dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus, and gross alpha and beta counts of several hundred picocuries per liter were greatest in perennial and intermittent streams during storm and snowmelt runoff. Insecticides ranging in concentrations from 0.1 to 1.5 micrograms per kilogram were detected in bed materials at several stream sites in Piceance Creek and Yellow Creek drainage basins. INTRODUCTION Increased demands for energy and energy independence in the United States have accelerated commercial development of natural resources in northwestern Colorado. Major resources are oil shale, coal, and natural gas. Oil-shale development is expected to be greatest in the Piceance basin (fig. 1), which contains an estimated 1 trillion barrels of recoverable oil shale (Weeks and others, 1974; Taylor, 1982). Piceance basin is divided into four drainage basins (fig. 1): Piceance Creek and Yellow Creek drainage basins discharge north to the White River, and Roan Creek and Parachute Creek drainage basins discharge south to the Colorado River. Piceance Creek and Yellow Creeks drainage basins, hereafter referred to as Piceance Creek and Yellow Creek basins, are mostly Federal lands and contain the most extensive deposits of oil shale in Piceance basin. Oil-shale development will occur mostly on private lands in the Roan Creek and Parachute Creek drainage basins. In early 1974, two leases of 5,120 acres each were awarded to two associations of oil companies for prototype development of oil shale. These two leased areas are referred to as Tract C-a and Tract C-b (fig. 1). Tract C-a is in Yellow Creek basin, and Tract C-b is in the Piceance Creek basin. As oil-shale development increases in these basins, the environmental quality of the water, land, and air will be affected. Data collected prior to major oil-shale development documents present water-quality conditions of surface flows. These data, when used in conjunction with other water-quality and biological data, can help determine the magnitude of changes in water quality that result from oil-shale development. Purpose and Scope The purpose of this report is to describe and summarize the water chemistry of streams in Piceance Creek and Yellow Creek basins. The study generally was limited to the five water years 1977-81 in order to provide a coordinated data base with an intensive study of benthic invertebrates at six sampling sites in Piceance Creek basin (Covay and others, 1984). Data from October 1975 to September 1976 (1976 water year) were included, however, when they effectively supplemented the data base. Selected data sets originally presented in U.S. Geological Survey reports (1977-82) are summarized for 26 sampling sites, hereafter referred to as site(s), from perennial and intermittent streams (fig. 2 and table 1) and include: 1. Continuous water-discharge data; 2. Continuous water-quality monitor data and periodic field determinations consisting of temperature, specific conductance, pH, and dissolved oxygen;

Water-quality characteristics of streams in the Piceance Creek and Yellow Creek drainage basins, northwestern Colorado, water years 1977-81