Coalition for Urban River Evaluation
1697 Cole Blvd., Ste 200, Golden, Colorado 80401 ● Ph: (303) 239-5411 ● Fax: (303) 239-5454
SP CURE Monitoring Committee Meeting
Thursday May 31, 2007 – 10:00 am
Meeting Location: Brown and Caldwell
1697 Cole Blvd, Suite 200, Golden, Colorado
Press Control and Click to get map
Host: Sarah Reeves
303-239-5411
May Meeting Summary
1.
Discussion of April Meeting Summary
There were no comments or corrections to the April Meeting Summary.
2.
Sierra Club Sampling Discussion
Sierra Club applied for and received a grant for $5,000 to perform water quality sampling. They
are connected with about six middle school teachers that will work with the schools to get children
out of school to sample. The Sierra Club is working with Division to make sure they follow their
protocols and can use the Division’s laboratory to analyze the data (for a fee). They would like to
use Hach kits (for quick, hands-on turnaround), meters, and the analytical laboratory to measure
results. Sierra Club would like to know our thoughts about where/what to sample – they would
like to sample in the Denver metro area.
On Bear Creek, DEH is going to start managing beavers. It might be good to have additional data
during that time and children might be interested in seeing the activity and the beavers. Big Dry
Creek, Lakewood Gulch, Westerly Creek, Goldsmith Gulch, and Niver Creek are other options.
Regarding Hach kits, they are thinking about using them for phosphate or nitrate. It might be nice
to also grab a sample to compare the results to a lab result. Other samples that could be collected
might include pH, conductivity, turbidity, temperature, metals (copper and selenium), and bacteria.
 Sarah to get Kirk Cummingham’s contact information to Jon Novick so that he can update
him on timing for Bear Creek work.
3.
Habitat and Bioassessment Proposal Update
The RFP Subcommittee met 3 times to discuss the proposals. They cut the proposals down to two
for each (habitat and bioassessment) and then asked the remaining proposers to answer specific
questions. The group chose Aquatic Associates for the bioassessment and GEI for the habitat
assessment. The subcommittee prepared a memo summarizing the selection effort and the final
decision will be confirmed with Xcel, L/E WWTP, and Centennial. Award letters will be sent out
once the decision is confirmed.
 Sarah to finalize memo and put on letterhead and send out to monitoring committee and
those who are funding the work.
4.
Ammonia Monitoring
Need to look for Unioniadae clams and clam shells in our bioassessment.
5.
Chlorophyll a
The group is concerned about the usefulness and applicability of chlorophyll a samples in stream.
We need to correlate samples with nutrients to be able to show if there is a connection between the
two. We are going to look at chlorophyll a coming out of Chatfield and then a mile downstream of
the dischargers.
Proposed Sampling Locations
 Chatfield (Centennial will sample)
 Union/Mineral (Centennial will sample)
 Someplace upstream of L/E (L/E will sample long-term - DEH to sample in June while
Phil is gone)
 S14/Sanderson Gulch (DEH will sample)
 Downstream of cherry Creek at 38th (DEH will sample)
 64th upstream of Metro (Metro will sample)
 Downstream of Metro 78th or 88th (Metro will sample)
 160th (Metro will sample)
 28 or 32½ (Metro will sample)
We will sample in summer and fall when you would most likely see chlorophyll a. We will sample
June through October.
6.
Mercury
Xcel will be sampling quarterly upstream and downstream of Arapahoe, and upstream and
downstream of Cherokee. L/E is doing instream samples of low-level mercury two times a month
as well as sampling influent and effluent. The group suggested doing fish tissue sampling along
with it to correlate the levels in the stream with the fish. We could take fish from the
bioassessment and do water quality sampling at the same time to correlate. We would need to have
Aquatics Associates include this in their permit with DOW. We will include low level mercury
water quality sampling quarterly starting in the fall to coincide with the bioassessment.
Proposed Sampling Locations
 Downstream of Chatfield
 One below Arapahoe
 One upstream of Cherokee
 Upstream of Metro (64th)
 Upstream of Clear Creek
 78th
 Fort Lupton
If we use ACZ, it would cost about $5000 to do fish tissue and the water samples for all sites. It
would cost about $2000 to do just water quality samples for all sites with ACZ.
6.
New Business
Sampling for July will take place on July 11th and 18th.
Meeting Schedule
August 14, 2007 – L/E WWTP
October 9, 2007 – Thornton
December 11, 2007 - TBD
Meeting summary was prepared by Sarah Reeves.
SPCURE Monitoring Committee Meeting – May 31, 2007
Attendance Record
Present
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Name
Randy Giffin
Nick Tino
Jon Novick
Al Polonsky
Andrew Hawthorn
Phil Russell
Sharon Davis
Jim Dorsch
Todd Harris
Steven Ellis
Britney Hand
Christine Johnston
Sarah Reeves
Kirk Cunningham
Organization
Aurora
Centennial W&S District
Denver Environmental Health
Denver Environmental Health
Glendale
Littleton/Englewood WWTP
Metro District
Metro District
Metro District
South Adams County W&S
City of Thornton
Xcel Energy
Coordinator - Brown and Caldwell
Sierra Club