Outstanding Waters
For the past year, Wild Connections has been actively advancing efforts to secure Outstanding Waters (OW) designations for high-quality streams in the Arkansas and Rio Grande basins through a coalition partnership with American Whitewater, Mountain Studies Institute, and other conservation partners. Wild Connections helped identify candidate streams within our region to initiate a comprehensive water-quality monitoring effort to support future designation proposals.
Wild Connections is currently conducting seasonal monitoring on seven representative streams within the Sangre de Cristo, Spanish Peaks, and Greenhorn Mountain Wilderness Areas, and Newlin Creek in the Wet Mountains. Sampling includes analysis of 12 key water-quality parameters, including pH, E. coli, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, and metals. To date, five of the required eight sampling events have been completed, with the remaining monitoring rounds scheduled over the coming year. The data collected through this effort will support a coalition-led proposal to the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) seeking OW designation for these exceptional streams. OW designation represents the highest level of water-quality protection available in Colorado and provides long-term safeguards against future degradation while allowing existing compatible uses and activities to continue. Our coalition anticipates submitting the proposal for consideration during the WQCC’s June 2027 rule-making process. Find more info on this exciting project below, including our brand new interactive StoryMap!
Wild Connections is currently conducting seasonal monitoring on seven representative streams within the Sangre de Cristo, Spanish Peaks, and Greenhorn Mountain Wilderness Areas, and Newlin Creek in the Wet Mountains. Sampling includes analysis of 12 key water-quality parameters, including pH, E. coli, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, and metals. To date, five of the required eight sampling events have been completed, with the remaining monitoring rounds scheduled over the coming year. The data collected through this effort will support a coalition-led proposal to the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) seeking OW designation for these exceptional streams. OW designation represents the highest level of water-quality protection available in Colorado and provides long-term safeguards against future degradation while allowing existing compatible uses and activities to continue. Our coalition anticipates submitting the proposal for consideration during the WQCC’s June 2027 rule-making process. Find more info on this exciting project below, including our brand new interactive StoryMap!
Click the link or photo above to view Wild Connections Outstanding Waters StoryMap, created by Wild Connections volunteer Eric Dec.
Creating our Outstanding Waters StoryMap
Longtime Wild Connections volunteer, Eric Dec, graciously created an Outstanding Waters of the Arkansas River StoryMap for Wild Connections.
Read how Eric created this map in his article for our upcoming Summer 2026 Landscapes Newsletter: "Creating an Outstanding Waters Story Map for Wild Connections".
Working towards Outstanding Waters Designations in the Arkansas River Basin
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Last spring, Wild Connections helped form a coalition to pursue Outstanding Waters (OW) designations in the Arkansas and Rio Grande basins. Find more info in an article by WC Co-Executive Director, John Sztukowski, which will be featured in our Summer 2026 Landscapes Newsletter.
Outstanding waters Fact Sheet
Outstanding Waters (OW) is a designation awarded to reaches of streams, rivers or other bodies of water with high water quality and exceptional recreational or ecological significance that are deemed worthy of increased protections by the State of Colorado. Find more info in this Outstanding Waters Fact Sheet.