Welcome back to this biweekly meeting of the South Platte River Committee of Denver City Council.

Join us for the discussion as the South Platte River Committee starts now.

Welcome everyone.

The camera to switch.

There we go.

Hi everyone.

Thanks for joining us.

You are at the South Platte River Committee meeting of March 25th.

I'm Councilwoman Torres.

I represent West Denver District 3, and we have a super informational item on today's agenda, but no action item.

So thank you for joining us.

I hope you find this as interesting as we will.

And before we hand it over to our presenter, let's do introductions.

I'll start in the room to my left.

I'm Sarah Perry.

I'm one of your two council members at large.

And I am Flora Alvidres with Lucky District 7.

Perfect.

Thank you both.

And do we have members online?

All right.

Online, take it away.

Don't be shy.

We're all like go ahead.

Councilwoman Mary Denver District 1.

Greetings, good afternoon, everyone.

Kevin Flynn, Southwestern Ember's District 2.

Uh good afternoon, Diana Romero Campbell, District 4.

We'll just go in council district number order.

Yeah, that's the easiest.

Thank you so much.

Three members on Zoom.

Please just chime in to the team's chat when you've got questions.

But I will turn it over to our presenter.

Please introduce yourself and we can get started.

Hi everyone.

My name is Samuel Wallace, and the hat I'm wearing today is the South Platte River Urban Waters Partnership Ambassador.

Want to thank every uh everyone in the committee for inviting me today to share a little bit more about what our partnership is and what we do to the benefit of the South Platte River and the communities.

So with that, I'll jump into my presentation here.

Should it be appearing on the show?

Should be appearing on magically in any moment.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, there we go.

Um great.

Well, I want to start with just giving a little bit of background on what the Urban Waters Partnership Program is.

Um so we are actually a part of a larger um federal program called the Urban Waters Federal Partnership.

Um this program was started, I believe, in 2011 with a bunch of federal agencies at the national level deciding that they wanted to collaborate and coordinate a little bit more on improving um the waterways in urban areas across the United States.

Um the Urban Waters Partnership convened with the goals of reconnecting urban communities with their uh waterways by improving coordination among federal agencies, um, and they also want to collaborate with community-led revitalization efforts to improve uh the nation's water systems and promote their economic, environmental, and social benefits.

So this was a large federal program established, and one of the first things that they did was establish what they called urban waters uh federal locations.

So the uh back in 2011 uh they established, I think it was originally just seven locations, and um one of the first ones was actually here in the South Platte River in Denver.

Um but since then it has expanded, um and now there are currently 21 urban waters locations throughout the United States.

Um you can see the different cities um and urban areas uh in which there are locations.

Um what are the benefits?

Why are we uh a part of the urban waters network?

Um, first off, uh there's a lot of opportunities for um Urban Waters Network partner in peer learning.

Um so once a month, all the ambassadors and in particular um EPA representatives from these locations um meet and talk about things that they're learning, things that they're implementing in their location.

So it's a great opportunity to connect and learn about what's happening in other urban waterways across the United States.

Um there are there's also access to different series of resources and materials through uh this network, and then one of the other big benefits of being an urban waters location is there are specific competitive grant fundings that are oriented towards um urban waters.

Um for example, um one of the ones I'll be talking about today is a US geological survey cooperative matching funds, which are specifically um funding allocated for urban waters locations.

Um there is a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant called um Five Stars that is also focused on urban waters locations, um and I'll be talking a little bit about um those grant programs in this presentation today.

Um so beyond the Urban Waters Federal Partnership program at kind of the national level, thinking about it a little bit more here in um and specifically the South Platte River.

Our location, as I mentioned, was established and created in 2011.

So we've been operating for 15 years, I guess.

I feels like I was just celebrating the 10-year anniversary.

So we've been operating as a partnership for 15 years.

Something that's a little bit unique about our partnership is that our geographic boundary is pretty large and actually extends into the upper parts of the watershed.

So a little bit, so a bit beyond the urban area, but this was originally done to acknowledge the source water that comes from the upper part of the watershed and the impact that that has in the urban areas around Denver and along the front range.

Our partnership has over a hundred partner groups involved.

That includes federal and state entities and agencies, locally municipalities and water providers, nonprofits, community-based organizations, and academic institutions and research entities.

And one of the things that I will say is we have particularly a lot of involvement from our EPA partners from Region 8.

They are a big convener and organizer.

So we also work pretty closely with the US Geological Survey, U.S.

Forest Service as well, and actually do a decent amount with the Colorado State Forest Service too.

So just talking about a little bit about the nuts and bolts of what our mission is.

Our mission is to collaborate across jurisdictions and disciplines to engage communities and protect and restore the South Platte watershed from the headwaters to the Denver metropolitan area.

We are all about bringing together partners with different perspectives, different backgrounds, different expertise to learn from each other and figure out where do we see those intersections and opportunities to collaborate and connect across different ways of thinking.

So that's thinking about all the different entities that are involved and getting them to talk to each other and work together.

We also focus a lot on connecting people with water, so thinking about bringing communities and water together and highlighting the South Platte River as the amazing resource that it is.

We also want to protect and restore through leveraging resources.

A lot of partners have different funding opportunities and access to resources and thinking about how we can better leverage those together for the benefit of the river and the communities.

And then lastly, we like to communicate achievements, celebrate when we can, and share technical information as well.

And the way that we add value as a partnership to the South Platte River.

The first is connectivity.

We, as a partnership, increase the quality and quantity of connections among partners, facilitating new ones and strengthening existing ones.

We also provide opportunities for resource sharing so that partners can share their expertise, knowledge, data, and physical infrastructure with one another.

Collaborative culture, just by fostering a culture of collaboration with the within the watershed.

We emphasize the importance and value of working together to develop effective solutions.

So just establishing that way of working together.

And then lastly, partner cultural awareness.

We bring together partners from a wide variety of backgrounds to build understanding and learn from each other's unique perspectives, skill sets, and expertise.

So talking a little bit more about our accomplishments, and then after that, I'll talk a little bit more about our 2026 work plan.

There's a couple of tools and things that I'd like to highlight that this partnership has been working on over the past couple years.

The first being the South Platte River water quality assessment tool.

So talking a little bit more about the water quality assessment tool.

This is from like a historic perspective within the partnership.

I believe conversations started around the close to the inception of the partnership.

How do we do a better job of getting it all into one place so that we can understand a little bit more what is the water quality here in this watershed?

And I believe the first effort was back in 2015, and partners just focused on a handful of parameters and consolidating the data into one place.

And I think it was focused particularly on the urban corridor.

Over time, we have found ways to expand and update that tool.

So what was kind of a call for data and a static spreadsheet.

Over time, we have built funding and built this awesome dynamic water quality tool that isn't just a bunch of data and a spreadsheet, but a visualization of what water quality looks like here in this watershed.

And so you can get a glimpse of what the tool looks like, what the interface looks like on the right side.

But what was the purpose of developing this tool in the first place?

First, to create that visualization that would help scientists, officials, and educators review and assess water quality data a little bit more easily.

And to that to that effect, we also wanted to create a tool that allows members of the public to more conveniently and easily track water quality data.

And then lastly, provide an interactive way to view water quality data to further understand pollution and strategies to improve water quality.

So this is probably a link that I can send out so you can take a look at what this tool looks like.

We did also build a how-to-use guide as part of it to try and increase usability.

But one of the things I mentioned is this is a dynamic tool that's connected to some of the big water quality data portals.

The first being the Colorado Data Sharing Network and the other being the EPA National Water Quality Portal.

And essentially what our tool does is every single night it takes a look at those tools or those portals I mean and sees if there's any new data and then automatically integrates it into our tool.

So in that way it stays dynamic and up to date without us having to necessarily go in and do a call for data every single time.

One of the other things that this tool does is it provides a map versus watershed data explorer view.

And what I mean by that is if you it's hard to see, but the top version, that there's a dot for basically every single monitoring location, which can be helpful.

But we also wanted to create a version where basically the tool you could explore by subwatersheds, and the tool will take all the data from the monitoring locations in that one watershed, subwatershed, and put it into one data viewing platform.

So you can kind of consolidate data across sub-watersheds.

And then one of the other things the water quality assessment tool by doing this can help us kind of see is to easily easily visualize hot spots.

So the example that's also a little bit hard to see, but you can see a bunch of green dots and then one red dot.

And the tool itself is color-coded to show where the different parameters are compared to like mean values and different benchmarks.

So you can maybe see, for example, where there might be elevated water quality parameters that you know.

I would like to emphasize that this is not a regulatory tool at all, but it does help you visualize maybe where you might see some challenges and in that sense think about what solutions might be to address places with high water quality pollution.

One of the other things that you can do with this tool is create data visualizations fairly easily.

Um, and in that sense, you can uh help examine water quality trends.

Um, this was just an example of one of the tools that we pulled for a total phosphorus at uh a station looks like at the South Platte River along 88th Avenue, and it will automatically plot the data points.

So you can kind of see a little bit more where there might be higher points and at what point of the year, um, as well as see trends over time.

So, for example, looking at this one, um, it looks like from about 2018 to 2020, there was a bit higher total phosphorus levels, and then since 2020 to 2023, looks like in general the data has um decreased.

Uh so there's a way to observe data trends through this tool, and then lastly, um, for those who maybe are learning a little bit more about water quality, the tool also features a set of storylines.

Um, so people can click on those and learn what does total phosphorus mean and why does that matter?

Why do we care about it?

What does that mean for communities?

So that's the water quality assessment tool.

Um, as I mentioned, there's a how-to guide as well.

Um, so when we send it out uh via uh a link, um also encourage you to check out the how-to-use tool to better understand all the different functions and how we can use this tool to better track and understand water quality along the South Platte River.

Um, one of the other accomplishments that I wanted to emphasize that the partnership has worked on is these US geological survey water quality studies.

As I mentioned, one of the benefits about being in urban waters locations is access to specific competitive grant funding and sources.

So essentially what this does is if you can imagine it's about following basically one drop as it moves along the South Platte River and collect data in just kind of one sampling session, right?

So you follow one droplet of water along the river and see how that water quality changes as it continues down the river.

And back in 2020, the USGS wanted to do this looking at nutrients in particular, nitrogen and phosphorus.

And one of the things that it produced is actually this profile of the South Platte River.

I believe this one is for orthophosphate.

And so one of the things that you can see is as the river width increases and decreases, that shows where there are spikes within total phosphorus or sorry, orthophosphate levels, right?

So what this study really helps one do is visualize where there might be large inputs into a river when it comes to different water quality parameters.

And so, for example, you can see right back right where there's the South Platte water renewal wastewater treatment plan is where you see an increase in the width of total of the orthophosphate.

Then you see it kind of decrease over time, and then you see another increase downstream at another wastewater treatment plan.

So this study helps understand the profile of water quality across the South Platte River.

And so this study was done particularly on low flow conditions, and as I said, focus specifically on phosphorus and nitrogen.

So partners back in 2024 said, hey, what if we apply for funding again, but this time expand the scope of the study, both in terms of parameters and in terms of flow events to even help us understand more where there might be sources and sinks of different water quality parameters.

So in this sense, uh we we received the USGS funding and our partners at the USGS have been conducting this follow-up South Platte River study.

Um as I mentioned, the 20 original 2020 study looks specifically at low flows.

This expands, and we're gonna we're looking at both low flow events, we're looking at high flow events, and we're looking at storm events.

So and I'll show you a couple pictures.

Um, and one of the other things that this does is it also expanded the water quality parameters that we're looking at.

So we're not just looking at nitrogen and phosphorus anymore, we're looking at different um uh heavy metals and different elements of salinity to understand uh those uh how those water quality constituents change across the South Platte River as well.

So uh as I mentioned, the the USGS partners have uh started the sampling already.

Um back in uh May of 2025, they did a high flow event.

Um so they, as I said, basically followed one uh pocket of water down the South Platte River during a high flow event to sample for these water quality parameters, um starting all the way at the uh at Chatfield just below Chapfield uh reservoir and ending at the South Platte River at Henderson, Colorado.

So they did a high flow event in May.

Um they did a event flow, so they caught uh the study during uh specifically during a storm event to see what water quality looks like uh when there's a lot of storm water coming in.

Um so you can see the when they chose to sample was the uh this the peak of this event, the peak discharge during the storm event.

Um so we're hoping to get some really interesting results from that.

And then uh lastly, um, and they'll be doing this in September of 2026.

Um, they'll be sampling a low-flow event so that they can see how the data shifts and uh as noted, this is not just a collaboration within the partnership in the USGS, but also includes a number of South Platte River stakeholders who are contributing funding and resources to this study.

Um then lastly, um, we don't have any uh results quite yet.

Um they're still processing them, but what they uh plan to create with this um all this data is a deliverable that includes an interactive web map, so once again another way to easily um and visually track data across the uh South Platte River, and then you can probably expect similar profiles for the different water quality constituents.

So this will give us a really good idea of where we're seeing sources and sinks of different water quality constituents, which can then help inform what are the solutions and strategies that will help us address where we might see large sources of water quality pollutants.

We do a good number of workshops and field tours.

When I first joined the partnership, we were still in COVID, so a lot of those original ones when I was first starting were online.

But since then we have done more interactive workshops, either focused on maybe a different geographic region or different topics.

So just some of the ideas that we've some of the workshops that we've organized.

We organized a funding workshop where we brought partners together to learn a little bit more about what it takes to apply for federal funds and all the kind of hoops that you have to jump through in order to do so.

And we also talked about some of the urban water specific funding to give partners an opportunity to communicate with each other where they might be able to leverage resources or if they have projects that connect, finding more opportunities to collaborate there.

And at the time there was a big grant called Community Change to talk about strategies for both securing applying for the community change funding, but also thinking about what does water equity mean and how can we advance water equity here in this watershed.

And we had a great partner conversations around that.

Last year we held a workshop spoke focused specifically on green infrastructure.

Actually, had a presenter from Department of Transportation and Infrastructure come.

We've recently had a workshop focused on collaborative projects.

So just identifying where everyone's working and where are their opportunities for greater connection and collaboration.

And then some of the field tours that we've done have taken a look at places like Lower Bear Creek, where Groundwork Denver led a tour to talk about some of the water quality challenges they face and how they're working with communities to address those, in particular, E.

coli.

We've had uh tours of uh uh water treatment plants, get a better insight of how that works, and then I think back in 2023 when uh the CSU Spur campus was first opening, we had a uh partner tour there to learn about all the resources and things that they have going on at the Spur campus.

Um and then lastly, just talking about grants and funding.

Um, as I meant, as I mentioned multiple times, there are specific urban waters grants and programs.

Um one of the the grant programs that unfortunately is no longer around was the urban water small grants.

Um but that being said, we did get some great projects out of that when that was a functioning operating grant program.

Um but we uh had partners apply and um receive funding from those programs uh from the Urban Water Small Grant Program to help uh lead youth leadership programs, do some open space planning, um do some educational and out uh uh outreach type events for for students, and as well as we have some uh did a stormwater messaging campaign for the uh phosphorus-free fertilizers, um which I'll actually show a little bit of in just a second.

Um, but we're able to help promote some community messaging kind of PSA style communication as well.

Um, and then uh a grant program that's still functioning is the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation five-star and urban waters grant program.

Um we've had a number of partners apply and receive funding for uh planning and projects, um, including a decent number in the Lower Bear Creek watershed to engage communities and youth on the water quality challenges they're facing there, but also think about where there are opportunities to improve water quality and then as well as some some planning and wildlife habitat work along the Sand Creek Urban Greenway.

Um so uh this is still a program, and in fact, I'm gonna be sending out an email because the newest 2026 request for proposals for this program is going to be it was just released, and so uh grants will be due in I think about mid May or so.

So just to some of the one some of the things that I like.

This was part of the uh stormwater messaging campaign that urban waters here in the South Platte help fund mainly to uh uh encourage people to use less phosphorous um rich fertilizer.

Um, and so uh this one on the left, Attack of the Algae was about um buying phosphorus-free fertilizer.

Um, the one on the right, as you can imagine, was more about cleaning up your dog waste, um, but was all about uh the campaign there.

Um, and I remember uh I think this all the messaging was developed with Urban Waters Funds back in 2012, but we actually did an uh help support a more recent outreach effort back in 2021, um, and we had a billboard along um I think E470.

Um we also had uh a spot a little bit uh for a little bit of time on Colorado Public Radio to encourage people to use phosphorus free fertilizer.

So um and we used all the messaging that was developed with Urban Waters funds for that campaign.

Um those are some of our historical and and recent accomplishments as a partnership.

Um but thinking ahead, um one of the things that uh was communicated last year is we we had some funding challenges as a partnership in 2025.

Um basically for since 2011 to 2025, a lot of the partnership was funded with federal funds, and we found a uh uh significant reduction in those funds in 2025.

So for a good portion of last year, we were trying to figure out um how we can sustain operations while federal funds are low.

Um, and so uh we were fortunate to have a couple of partners step up to help fund the ambassador and fund some of the um other expenses that come from um organizing this collaborative.

Um want to give a shout out to Aurora Water and Denver Water who helped provide those fundings at least for this year, um, and then we will be continuing to explore funding options in 2027.

Um, and so uh something that we are working with uh our advisory committee to um continue to um continue to do.

Um but talking a little bit more about what we plan to do with the funds that we have available to us.

Um I will say our work plan this year is a little bit paired back because as I you know, as I mentioned, our funds are not quite at the level as they have been, um, but we still wanted to keep momentum going and not let a 15-year partnership fade away.

Um, with that, um 2026 work plan, there's really four major items.

Um, and this first one we actually recently did, which was what we called our collaborative projects workshop.

Um, and what we wanted to do with this workshop is bring together uh a lot of our partners to identify what projects and activities they are focused on in 2026 with the um goal of having partners see where there are connections where we can't just work in isolation, right?

We have to work together to figure out where we can leverage our resources and expand our impact.

Um, partners back actually February 23rd, we held this collaborative projects workshop and had about 30, 35 partners in attendance, which was pretty good.

Um, and they sat around and they marked up maps and they pointed at things and shared where they're working and where there might be opportunities for connection.

Um one of the other things that we are doing is we are uh building a partnership directory and database of projects and events to help better track those projects and initiatives that are occurring across the watershed and using that to help facilitate connections among partners.

So if a partner's working in Lower Bear Creek, they might come to our map and say, hey, who else is working in Lower Bear Creek and where are their opportunities to potentially connect.

We are also going to host two field tours slash events on topics and projects of interest within the watershed, um, which we will be planning, I think, likely for a June July field tour, and then probably a mid-fall field tour, um, taking a look at uh either some kind of geo geography or topic of interest um for partners within the watershed.

Um and then one of the other things that we'll continue to do is we distribute a monthly partnership letter where we talk and share what partners are doing and working on as well as uh identifying like sharing where there's upcoming funding opportunities and things like that.

So partners uh have a place to go to learn about what's going on in the watershed.

So we'll continue to send out a monthly partnership newsletter as as part of our partnership.

And just to give you a little bit of insight, this was the SPRUB Collaborative Projects Workshop.

Um so uh we had a good turnout and good discussion.

Um and this is on the right side of prototype, um, but actually we plan to release it, but um, this is what it will look like for partners to take a look at the map and see what's going on.

Um, and you can click each of those different points and find out what partner is working, what the project is, um, and uh anything else partners wanted to share.

So just giving people a visual tool to help anchor kind of the operational understanding of what's going on in the landscape and within the watershed.

So that's something we we plan to maintain and keep up throughout the year and want to be a kind of cornerstone of our 2026 initiatives.

So thinking beyond 2026, you know, 2027 and beyond, uh, I'll say that our scope will continue to be a bit dependent on funding.

Um, you know, uh but that being said, um, you know, funding dependent, we are interested in moving forward um and trying to expand our impact.

I think one of the things that I'd love to see is hosting some regular committee meetings focused on upcoming grant opportunities and urban water specific programs.

Um so it's like, oh, we have some funding for uh urban waters locations.

Who's interested in implying and where can we collaborate instead of compete for those funding opportunities?

Um also would be interested in in working with partners to host more community volunteer events and as funding needed uh by contributing funds to support more local projects.

Um so that is um some of the things that our partners and advisory committee have discussed if funding became available, but certainly um we'll continue to continue to host partner gatherings and convenings, um, field tours and workshops on moving forward.

Um so that is the partnership in a nutshell, what we've worked on, what we uh will continue to work on, and what we hope to work on.

So this is a good time for any questions and answers from uh committee members.

Thank you, Samuel.

Um super interesting.

Um we've got a couple members in queue.

We'll start with Councilwoman Alviderez, and then go to Councilman Flynn.

Thank you, committee chair, and thank you so much for all of this information.

It's a lot to follow.

And uh you guys are doing a lot of work and have done a lot of work.

Um you started off by saying the hat you're wearing today.

So what's that?

Um I I work for a firm called P Facilitation Group.

So we uh provide facilitation services for um collaborative environmental planning and natural resource management.

So I work on um work with several different collaboratives around the state, so this is just one of them.

So that's why that's the hat I'm wearing today.

So does the partnership have staff?

No, no, just the ambassador is the only um interesting.

Great.

Um that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Kate.

Thank you, Councilman Flynn.

Thank you.

Thank you, uh, Madam Chair.

Could uh uh Samuel, could you drill uh a little more deeply into uh some of the challenges we're gonna face along the river and its tributaries with uh the challenge of the snowpack that we have in my driving around my district at least, I noticed a couple things.

I drove by Fort Logan Cemetery this morning.

I noticed that the pond uh along uh I think it's called Incinerator Lake is nearly dry.

And I've noticed some of our own lakes and our parks are low.

I've also noticed some of our irrigation ditches that flow through my district, at least the agricultural ditch and the bowls lateral, uh, all from about January on have been flowing very heavily.

So I don't know if that means downstream uh customers, downstream owners of the water rights are asking earlier in the season uh for their allotments, and therefore we're already draining upstream reservoirs.

Uh do you have a view on that?

Uh I've also noticed I think Smith Reservoir up on Kipling and Lakewood is is uh is very, very low.

Uh what's the impact we see this summer on the potential for extremely low flow in the plot?

Yeah, um I'll say before I answer this question that I know I was supposed to be here with the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment, and I think they'll be able to provide an even more in-depth uh answer than than I will.

But um I I'll say that our partnership does tend to focus a lot on water quality um challenges.

Um so I don't have as much insight into you know the ditch calls and and how that is impacting quantity and the the South Platte right now.

Um but what I will say is you know, oftentimes we say the solution to pollution is dilution.

So when you got some low flows, it means that the water quality parameters that are in there are are more concentrated, and so you might see more impacts from like a stormwater event when you have a lower flows on those um, you know, bringing in some of those uh pollutants.

So I I would imagine um, you know, as we see these low flows that we'll have some more concentrated effects from water quality um pollutants, but one of the things I'll also say is you know, the USGS study, we are sampling during low flows and what a year to be sampling during low flows in September, because it's going to be such a low water year.

Um and so we'll really get a good understanding of the way that um those water quality parameters are affected by low flows come um that September sampling.

And so I think maybe that means that it's a good opportunity for next year to bring in me and the USGS folks to talk a little bit more about some of the takeaways from that sampling event.

Sounds like what you're saying is when uh if we ever get a gully washer again uh this summer, that uh particularly in some of our neighborhoods where uh we have a lot of dog walking and such and some of the E.

coli concentration uh from that runoff alone into a l already low Bear Creek or Sanderson Gulf, and then into the plat, uh, will be a greater concentration than it would have been had we been a normal flow.

Yeah, that's that's what I would anticipate.

Um I think that would also be a great question for when um the DDPHE team is also in, but that that is what I'm I'm communicating, yes.

All right, thank you.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Councilman Flynn.

And uh DDPHE will be coming June 10th for their piece around this.

So um try to remember those same questions for that one.

Uh Councilwoman Parody.

Yeah, thank you so much for coming.

I don't know how I stumbled on your listserv, but it's really helpful.

Um I like to spread the grant opportunities around when you send those.

So thank you.

And I was really glad to see you remain funded this year and appreciated Aurora Water and Denver Water for doing that for the time being.

Um I was I've been curious uh to know a little bit more about your um your 100 members, like what kind of categories, what what types of organizations or entities are those?

Yeah, and um I'll do my best to try and uh think of them off the top of my head.

Um, going back in the presentation here.

Um, but it's it's a pretty large um array.

Um we have federal agencies, as I mentioned, DPA, USGS, um, US Forest Service, um, we have state entities, CD C DPH, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Um, I'm trying to think uh um who else from the state agency side.

Um but we also have you know, as water providers, Aurora Water, Denver Water, um, the wastewater treatment plants, uh, South Platte Renew, Mile High Flood District, um, local municipalities, so like the stormwater professionals at Adams County and um Commerce City, um, City and County of Denver, obviously, um, nonprofits, like the Nature Conservancy, um, the Park people, uh, trusts for public lands, community-based organizations, um, uh, and uh academic institutions and research entities.

So, you know, CU Denver, CU Boulder, um the Water Center at Colorado State University.

So it's it's quite a uh um large and diverse group of um organizations that are part, which I think is our strength as a partnership and and something that's uh a bit unique in our partnership is that we have that wide range of perspectives and and organizations participating.

Yeah, I that's so interesting to me because I think um understanding that this is you know EPA derived and focused on water quality, it actually feels like um such an opportunity to have all of those uh stakeholders in the same place or on the same list server, whatever it is, um because there are so many other tangential issues related to water, you know, and not to take away that focus, but I just um I'm just intrigued by the fact that this group kind of exists because we have so many different challenges related to water coming down the pike.

So I'm just glad you're all meeting with it that way.

Yeah.

And I will say, you know, um, I know there's the the round table system in Colorado, and there's like the Metro Basin round table.

Um, and we have some partners who are also engaged with that, and you know, they talk a little bit more about water quantity and maybe some opportunity to think about a little bit more what the relationship between water quantity and water quality.

Um I actually don't know what that is.

What is that round table?

Oh, um, yes, these are the um basin round tables that uh run by the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

It's from the Colorado Water Plan.

They set up these basin round tables throughout the state.

Um and so there is a South Platte Basin round table and there's a Metro Basin round table, um, as well as you know, across the rest of the state.

And so that's another kind of group that meets and talks about um uh basin wide.

Um, and they also have some the funding, some funding um through the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

Interesting.

Okay, thank you so much.

Um I don't know that I have more questions.

I might, but I think I'm good for now.

If I'm less, then we're not good.

Thank you.

Um of the things that struck me uh in the longitudinal study and some of the corridor studies is you're you're capturing orthophosphate.

Um, and it reminded me that that's why um Denver water went the path of replacing our lead lines um with new lines rather than treat the lead system or the current system, because they were going to be treating it with orthophosphate, right?

Can you just give me kind of a 101 on like what orthophosphate does in a water system and why it's something that you're measuring the amount of.

So I will say I wasn't around when that first 2020 study.

I mean, I I started in 2021, um, but what I've heard is the the study was originally done because of that idea that Denver water was gonna put orthophosphate into the river, and so they wanted to get a baseline understanding of what the river looks like before that occurred.

Um and orthophosphate is uh a nutrient and it impacts like um algal growth and can hurt water quality that way um by increasing algal growth.

Um and uh and that in turn, when the algae dies, it sinks to the bottom and sucks up to oxygen and lowers dissolved oxygen levels, which impacts aquatic um wildlife and aquatic habitat.

Um so the original study was done for that that reason to understand what the orthophosphate baseline levels were, um, then Denver water pivoted their strategy, um, but that didn't mean that there weren't helpful takeaways from the study and um something partners learned uh and wanted to expand upon for this 2025 study.

That makes things I think feel so clear and connected and the wise.

And we definitely, I mean, uh President Sandoval and I um our borders hit Sloane's Lake where we've had a ton of um algae growth issues and what it does, I think to that whole ecosystem has been like on display there.

So thank you for that.

Um one of the things that we're doing right now, because I'm I'm interested in where the partnership um ends up when it comes to maybe like policy recommendations or um uh things that Denver might need to implement in our stretch of the South Platte River or any of the gulches that feed it.

Um and I'm thinking about that because we're you know, we're putting together a small area plan for the Burnham Yard um area right now, so it's the yard and the industrial corridor.

Um and if it comes up in that kind of micro context to provide a recommendation as we're gathering input for those kinds of plans of how we need to be treating the the river corridor, because it it that area plan goes all the way to the South Platte.

Right.

So it's included there, and I don't know if that's an opportunity for your partners to weigh in or if it's something that you do you kind of steer clear of.

You know, uh we tend we have, but we tend not to comment on behalf of like the whole partnership, like this is the SPROP perspective opinion just because we have so many, it's like, well, there are rules against you know, federal entities and things commenting on in in certain ways, right?

Um so we tend to not do so much as like a full partnership, but that being said, this is a good listserv if you're like, hey, there's a public comment period or there's a workshop of some kind and you're trying to get the word out, yeah, right, this is a good listserv for us to throw into our monthly newsletter and say, hey, if you're interested in commenting, here's the way to do that.

Um and if you want to share within the communities that you're working in, um, feel free to distribute that way.

So this is a really good kind of um what I would say like informational network to get the word out there.

Um and you can do that just by emailing me and saying, hey, there's something coming out that I want to flag for your partners.

Can you please include it in the next monthly newsletter?

And uh I normally ask for uh like events by the 15th, and then I send it out like the a couple days after.

Okay.

Um so that's that's our general protocol and the way we might be able to use this network to get the word out and help support some of those planning efforts.

I love that we have like a current survey that's out for the current phase of the small area plant.

And I think for folks, you know, wearing kind of a river system hat would love to know that because I think that project gets swallowed up by people what people want to say about the Broncos development.

Right.

And that doesn't go all the way to the river.

Um so I really want folks with a river kind of intention giving us advice on what we should be doing with the river.

Yes, absolutely.

Perfect, thank you.

Um those are my questions.

Um Councilwoman Perry want to back in.

Yeah, unsurprisingly.

I realize this is maybe kind of the obvious question to ask what talking to um a committee of council members who all of our districts cover the river, that's why we're convening this way.

We all care about it.

I don't think any of us really have anything in our background related to like river contamination.

I'm trying to think.

But I think that is perhaps absent from us.

So what what are the um biggest just off the cuff like contamination challenges on the South Platte or um you know areas that like if if you were us, you would be substantially concerned about um types of contaminants, locations like anything like that.

Yeah, I think um, I mean, I know that E.

coli in the lower Bear Creek is a big uh conversation point.

Um one of the things I was talking about was the phosphorus free fertilizer campaign, and to that point that ties to to algal blooms and and um those types of things downstream, um which is why Bar Lake, uh Milton Watershed Association, that's a group that's formed around uh Bar Lake and Milton uh Reservoir Downstream.

They're actually the leaders of that phosphorus free fertilizer campaign because they they um have had it they all collect, right?

And it goes downstream and it ends up in those reservoirs, which is why in the past they've had some challenges with alcohol blooms and things like that.

So um they are the leaders of the phosphorus free fertilizer campaign and still continue to do so.

Um and so those are the ones that that come off uh the top of my head.

Um I'm sure uh TDPHE will have a couple others that they can, but um I know those ones have have come up as um as topics.

Thank you.

That's super interesting.

That was all I wanted to add.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Um Samuel, we don't have um additional council members in queue, so I just really want to thank you for coming, and we'll definitely reach out.

Um you said next year after a particular study's been done.

Um the sampling event you missed.

The sampling event, uh, the final one that they're doing is September 2026, and then I know USGS, you know, it's not like they have the report the next week, so um I can work with them and figure out what their appropriate timeline is, but certainly 2027 would make sense.

Perfect.

I think that's great.

All right.

Thank you so much.

We have two things on four things on consent.

Um so take a look at those if you have any questions, let uh let us know.

Um thank you.

Thanks for being here, Samuel.

Thank you.