In the 1998 National Water Quality Inventory report to Congress, the State of Colorado reported that eighty-nine percent of the State's 171,000 river kilometres and ninety-one percent of the 59,000 lake hectares in the State have "good" water quality, fully supporting designated uses [1]. Maintenance of this high level of water quality is important from the standpoints of water supply, protection of aquatic ecosystems, and sustenance of industries that rely on the pristine environmental conditions for which COlorado is known. Primary sources of non-point source (NPS) pollution in Colorado include agriculture, mining, construction, and urban runoff, with much of the lake impairment in the State attributable to the latter two sources [1]. NPS pollutant sources from construction and urban runoff have the potential to increase dramatically in coming years due to population growth and associated urbanisation; population is projected to be nearly two times 1990 levels by 2025 for the Denver metropolitan area and for the State as a whole [2].
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