← All basins

Blue River Basin

Division 5 · Water District 36 · As of 2026-09-30 05:07 MDT · 2 weeks ago · also known as Blue River

Who may take water from the Blue River Basin, who is calling for it today, and how it is running, compiled from Colorado Division of Water Resources records. Click anything on the map for its record.

Live · machine-built

Blue River Basin on the ground — the ditches, wells, reservoirs and gages of Water District 36 · clicktap anything for its record

Browse this district’s ditches, gages, reservoirs, wells and springs as a list.

10% of normal flow, week of 2026-09-21
0 calls the record places on it, 26 unsettled

The Blue River is critically low for late September -- 10% of normal flow, its 9th-driest such week in 89 years of record. No call that the record places on it is active right now. DWR's statements do not settle whether 26 more calls reach it.

Water quality

The water itself, in this district

Four registers, each on its own schedule: what USGS sensors read right now, where samples have been taken, which stretches the state lists as impaired, and how the tap water of the systems here stands with EPA. None is a DWR record; each links its own page.

Right now

Source Provisional telemetry · fetched 2026-10-17 · verify at USGS current conditions ↗

2 USGS sensors report temperature, conductance, dissolved oxygen or turbidity from inside this district; provisional readings, never merged into the verified record.

SiteTemp °CCond µS/cmDO mg/LTurb FNUAs of
BLUE RIVER BELOW DILLON, CO. 6.4 274 2026-10-17 05:15
BLUE RIVER NEAR DILLON, CO 7.7 215 2026-10-17 05:00

Where water has been sampled

Source Register of another agency · fetched 2026-10-08 · verify at Water Quality Portal ↗

The portal lists 835 sampling stations in this district's watershed (Blue 14010002), of which 57 reported a sample in the last 5 years on the state and tribal side (USGS activity is in the station count, not in that figure). Most active: Colorado Dept. of Public Health & Environment-WQCD (46), Colorado River Watch (8), USGS Colorado Water Science Center (3). Most-sampled groups: Nutrient, Physical, Inorganics, Major, Metals, Inorganics, Minor, Non-metals. Every station as a file ↗

Results themselves are not fetched here; USGS samples added after March 2024 may not be in the portal's legacy profiles yet.

Drinking water

Source Register of another agency · fetched 2026-10-07 · verify at EPA SDWIS ↗

19 community systems touch this district. None carries an open health-based violation on EPA's record. EPA sampled 5 of them for PFAS in 2023–25; 1 had PFOA or PFOS at or above the 2024 limit.

SystemServesEPA recordPFAS (UCMR 5)Lead, latest 90th pct
SNAKE RIVER WD 9,900 2 of 12 quarters with a violation PFOA, PFOS at or over the limit 0.0009 mg/L
BRECKENRIDGE TOWN OF 28,315 9 of 12 quarters with a violation none detected 0.002 mg/L
SILVERTHORNE TOWN OF 8,400 5 of 12 quarters with a violation 2 detected, under the limits 0.0 mg/L
COPPER MOUNTAIN CONSOLIDATED MD 5,785 clean, last 12 quarters none detected 0.005 mg/L
FRISCO TOWN OF 4,495 4 of 12 quarters with a violation none detected 0.004 mg/L
DILLON TOWN OF 3,254 1 of 12 quarters with a violation not sampled 0.005 mg/L
DILLON VALLEY DISTRICT 3,063 2 of 12 quarters with a violation not sampled 0.003 mg/L
BUFFALO MOUNTAIN MD 2,650 clean, last 12 quarters not sampled 0.001 mg/L
EAST DILLON WD 2,501 1 of 12 quarters with a violation not sampled 0.0042 mg/L
KEYSTONE RANCH 670 2 of 12 quarters with a violation not sampled 0.006 mg/L

and 9 more; the full directory filters by district.

EPA's record carries violations and lead/copper percentiles; nitrate and disinfection by-product results are not in it. UCMR 5 samples are monitoring, not compliance, and the 2024 PFOA/PFOS limits equal its reporting limit, so any detection of those two is at or above them.

Impaired waters

Source Register of another agency · verify at EPA ATTAINS ↗

The state's 303(d) impaired-waters list has not been joined to this basin's own watershed boundary yet, so nothing is shown rather than a guess; the basins with a join carry the full list here. Why the join is geometry, not a name match.

Snowpack — 6 SNOTEL sites report here. Runoff outlook — Dillon Reservoir Inflow: even odds of at least 25 kAF over 06-01 to 07-31 — 25% of a normal season, per NRCS, issued 2026-06-01 — the season’s final; new forecasts begin in January. Runoff outlook — Green Mountain Reservoir Inflow: even odds of at least 44 kAF over 06-01 to 07-31 — 27% of a normal season, per NRCS, issued 2026-06-01 — the season’s final; new forecasts begin in January. Full snow & runoff picture — charts, forecast history and how the forecasts have verified →

Sites, exceedance bands and sources
SNOTEL siteElev (ft)SWE (in)Median (in)% of medianTypical peak
Copper Mountain10500 0.00.0 — April 26 (17.4 in)
Elliot Ridge10550 0.00.0 — April 25 (23.2 in)
Fremont Pass11310 0.20.6 — May 11 (20.8 in)
Grizzly Peak11110 0.10.3 — April 21 (19.6 in)
Hoosier Pass11600 0.80.4 — April 27 (17.3 in)
Summit Ranch9350 0.20.0 — April 9 (11.4 in)

Dillon Reservoir Inflow — 06-01 to 07-31 volume, thousand acre-feet (chance the volume is AT LEAST this):

90%70%50%30%10%Normal
1218253446 101

Green Mountain Reservoir Inflow — 06-01 to 07-31 volume, thousand acre-feet (chance the volume is AT LEAST this):

90%70%50%30%10%Normal
2535445570 163

Snow-water equivalent and medians (1991–2020) from NRCS SNOTEL; seasonal volume forecasts from the NRCS National Water and Climate Center. Sites and forecast points are assigned to the district whose boundary contains them — snowpack that feeds this district can also sit in a neighboring headwater district. Toggle the Snow chip on the map above to see the sites.

Topology cross-check: 2 parent disagreements, 20 sizable streams not on this network (vs DWR's route framework — under review)

This flow network was built mechanically; DWR's Source Water Route Framework disagrees with it in the places below. Each row is a question a human reviewer has not yet answered — not an error verdict. Checked 27 streams, 25 agree. Know this water? Tell us →

StreamThis site routes it toDWR routes it to
West Tenmile Creek the mainstem Tenmile Creek
Soda Creek the mainstem Snake River

Sizable streams DWR maps here that this network does not carry:

Cataract Creek (12 mi) · Slate Creek (10 mi) · Elliott Creek (9 mi) · Boulder Creek (9 mi) · French Gulch (8 mi) · Elliott Creek (7 mi) · Otter Creek (7 mi) · Beaver Creek (6 mi)

Something wrong on this page? Tell us →