Water-quality characteristics, including trend analyses, for selected sites in the Tongue River, Powder River, Cheyenne River, and Belle Fourche River drainage basins, water years 2001-2005

Wyoming Water Science Center

Water-quality characteristics, including trend analyses, for selected sites in the Tongue River, Powder River, Cheyenne River, and Belle Fourche River drainage basins, water years 2001-2005

Project summary

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) monitors streams throughout the Powder River structural basin in parts of Wyoming and Montana for potential effects of coalbed natural gas development. Much of the monitoring began during water year 2001. The USGS has collected about 600 discrete water-quality samples in the Tongue River, Powder River, Cheyenne River and Belle Fourche River watersheds as part of a monitoring network since 2001. A report that characterizes water-quality data collected during water years 2001-2005 at the 22 sites in the Tongue River, Powder River, Belle Fourche River, and Cheyenne River drainage basins is being prepared. The objectives of the report are: 1) summarize field measurements, major ions (including sodium-adsorption ratios and dissolved solids), and trace metal data collected during water years 2001-2005; and 2) describe temporal changes in concentrations using trend testing for selected constituents and sites. The report is being reviewed and when completed, a link will be added to this page.

Map of study area (click on image for a larger version, 334 kb).

Table 1. Selected sites to be included in the report.

Map number	U.S. Geological Survey site number	Site name
T1	06304500	Little Goose at Sheridan, Wyo.
T2	06305500	Goose Creek below Sheridan, Wyo.
T3	06306250	Prairie Dog Creek near Acme, Wyo.
T4	06306300	Tongue River at Stateline near Decker, Mont.
P1	06313400	Salt Creek near Sussex, Wyo.
P2	06313500	Powder River at Sussex, Wyo.
P3	06313605	Powder River below Burger Draw, near Buffalo, Wyo.
P4	06316400	Crazy Woman Creek at upper station, near Arvada, Wyo.
P5	06317000	Powder River at Arvada, Wyo.
P6	06317020	Wild Horse Creek near Arvada, Wyo.
P7	06320210	Clear Creek above Kumor Draw near Buffalo, Wyo.
P8	06324000	Clear Creek near Arvada, Wyo.
P9	06324500	Powder River at Moorhead, Mont.
P10	06324970	Little Powder River above Dry Creek, near Weston, Wyo.
B1	06425720	Belle Fourche River below Rattlesnake Creek near Piney, Wyo.
B2	06425900	Caballo Creek at mouth, near Piney, Wyo.
B3	06426400	Donkey Creek near Moorcroft, Wyo.
B4	06426500	Belle Fourche River below Moorcroft, Wyo.
B5	06428050	Belle Fourche River below Hulett, Wyo.
C1	06364700	Antelope Creek near Teckla, Wyo.
C2	06376300	Black Thunder Creek near Hampshire, Wyo.
C3	06386400	Cheyenne River at Riverview, Wyo.

Photo of Powder River, Wyoming

Powder River, Wyoming.

Photo of water-quality sampling at Belle Fourche River, Wyoming.

Water-quality sampling at Belle Fourche River, Wyoming.

Stream-water-quality monitoring in the Powder River structural basin is ongoing. A complete listing of sites and provisional data collected by the USGS during 2005 and 2006 is available at URL: http://wy.water.usgs.gov/data.htm#qw. Data collected before 2005 is available from NWISWeb at URL: http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/wy/nwis/qwdata.

For more information, contact:

Melanie Clark/Hydrologist
2617 E. Lincolnway, Suite B
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82001
(307) 775-9163
Email: mlclark@usgs.gov

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