In 2022, CAWA began our first water quality project with three ranchers on Colorado’s Western Slope with the goal of better understanding water quality impacts from irrigated hay meadows. There is very little data to support the impact these agricultural operations do or do not have on water quality.

 

Thanks to the ranches that participated and Colorado State University’s Agricultural Water Quality Program (AWQP), we learned that mountain meadow hay systems in Colorado are not major contributors of nutrients to surface waters, and under most conditions, act as sinks rather than sources of sediment and phosphorus.

 

The team from Colorado State University installed edge-of-field monitoring stations in the Upper Yampa, Lower Colorado, and Upper Gunnison Basins. The stations collected sediment and nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) data over three years from 2022-2024.

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According to these data, nutrient concentrations in runoff were consistently low across all sites and years. Nitrate was rarely detected and phosphorus concentrations were generally low, but variable. Outflow phosphorus concentrations were often equal to or lower than inflow concentrations, indicating that perennial meadow systems can act as nutrient filters. Sediment was also consistently reduced in outflow waters.

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This initial project has led to more work on the topic of water quality.

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• CAWA and CSU are currently working with four farmers in Mesa County on a similar project with edge-of-field monitoring equipment. The study will use baseline data to investigage the impacts of best management practices on water quality.

• CSU has begun a project with multiple ranchers in Routt County to better identify fertilizer practices that help both the rancher’s bottom line and water quality.

 

This work would not have been possible without funding through the Nonpoint Source Program at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Environmental Protection Agency’s 319 Grant Program.