North Platte River (Denver, Thornton, Greeley: houses, to live, pollution)

[gmm_24]

Ok it know it is polluted from Commerce city, to the point that the water is warm and I will not go anywhere near it. I envision 6 eyed fish and 8 legged toads, lol
It is not that far from my house, and it looks pretty but I know what it is.

Anyway a friend said that this Summer Commerce City was going to stop pulling and dumping water from it and the water is now cold and getting cleaner.
I googled it and can find nothing that says it is true. I say the water is colder since we had a lot of rain, so much so the Platte flooded the neighboring houses fields, to the point where some out buildings and trailers were 2 feet under water.

Why can't that darn river run like a normal one North to South?

Have any of you heard that they are cleaning up the Platte from Commerce city and northwards?

[davidv]

I know that Commerce City upgraded its wastewater treatment plant about 6-7 years ago, but I don't know of anything that is recent.

FWIW, rivers don't flow in one direction (north) over another, rivers (and all other surface water) flow DOWNHILL.

Also, you are talking about the South Platte River. The North Platte originates in extreme northern Colorado, flows through Wyoming and meets up with the South Platte to form the Platte River near North Platte, NE>

[gmm_24]

I know not all rivers flow North to South, there are of course ones that flow East to West, Southeast, and etc.
The ones that flow South to North in the US are less then 15, most flow North to South headed toward the ocean. Not all topography with the flow of rivers is all downhill. The Platte is not clearly not running all DOWNHILL from here to NE.
The general trend for water to flow southwards in the Northern hemisphere and northwards in the southern.

[davidv]

Originally Posted by gmm_24

I know not all rivers flow North to South, there are of course ones that flow East to West, Southeast, and etc.
The ones that flow South to North in the US are less then 15, most flow North to South headed toward the ocean. Not all topography with the flow of rivers is all downhill. The Platte is not clearly not running all DOWNHILL from here to NE.
The general trend for water to flow southwards in the Northern hemisphere and northwards in the southern.

You've got me confused here. Are you saying that you know how to get water to flow naturally uphill?

The direction of a river's flow is downhill because of the force of gravity. The steeper the slope, the faster the river flows. The gentler the slope, the slower the flow.

Sometimes a river flows into a natural basin. When that happens, the basin fills with water creating a lake. At this point one of two things happens:
1. the basin fills completely and the water will then flow out the lowest point and the water will resume flowing downhill (like the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, Lake Granby, etc), or
2. the basin is too big to fill completely, because the rate of water absorbtion and evaporation is greater than the rate at which the basin is being filled. This creates a salt lake (like the Great Salt Lake, the Aral Sea, the Dead Sea, etc).

As for the South Platte River, here are some elevations to help show you that the river does, indeed, flow downhill:

Cheeseman Reservoir: 6842 ft above sea level
Chatfield Reservoir: 5426 ft above sea level
Littleton: 5351 ft above sea level
Denver: 5280 ft above sea level
Commerce City: 5164 ft above sea level
Brighton: 4983 ft above sea level
Greeley: 4658 ft above sea level
Sterling: 3939 ft above sea level
Julesburg: 3478 ft above sea level
North Platte NE (joins the North Platte River to form the Platte River here): 2802 ft above sea level
Grand Island NE: 1856 ft above sea level
Omaha NE: 1090 ft above sea level (flows into the Missouri River south of Omaha)

[livecontent]

Why bother trying explain to this guy. His opening post is so full of misconceptions, bull**** and just stupidity. He does not know the correct name of the river--which is the South Platte River, not the North Platte which is different. How the Hellfu*** did he research this river, if he cannot even know the correct name.

He has no idea where it originates. He has no clue to the land and his ideas of river flow are childlike. He does not know that Denver sits in a Basin. Most importantly, he talks about pollution of the river as it is only caused by Commerce City when it flows through Denver and many others areas first--and even his claims about the problems of this river are nonsense.

The South Platte provides drinking water, farming irrigation and recreational water resources to the Great Plains, in addition to great recreation areas near the more densely population metro area. Do not believe this crap from this poster because as he says he does not go near it.

Livecontent

[Mike from back east]

LC, chill out bro, we deal with all sorts of misconceptions on here all the time, like Denver is IN the mountains, etc.

Let's just educate our members and not attack them.

Thanks!

[gmm_24]

First off genius I am a SHE, and I meant the Northern Platte, the part that runs from North of Commerce City and up. I did not want it to be confused with the part of South there. Sorry if I left off the ERN part and you got your panties in a wad.
Keep your ignorant profanity to yourself.

Also I have lived here for 16 years and do know the flow of the river, where it goes, have biked on trails along it, seen lots of dead fish along the trail near Thornton and have found the water oddly warm. I never see anyone in or around it up here and it is close to my house and I pass it multiple times of day and not always in the same area, no one in or around it ever.

Most -but clearly not- all rivers runs toward sea level, the Platte runs in a different direction, away from sea level. There are about 15 major rivers in the US that do that. Yea I know that and can read. I also can google things like......
Commerce City, Platte River, Colorado, pollution any combo of words, and oddly enough I get hits..... which I can read!

I also happen to live right near the Platte in farm country and do not know of anyone around me that has water shares/rights that uses the Platte. The main canal around here is Northern Colorado Water which borders my property and flows North to South and they do not use Platte water : CBT East Slope Distribution (http://www.ncwcd.org/project_features/east_slope.asp - broken link)


Northward flowing rivers are not that common, you can google it if you like, I made you list; they have them since the water flowing away from the ocean is not a common occurence. Here I saved you time:
Bighorn in WY and MT- Deschutes in OR- Eel in N. CA- Fox in WI- Genesee in NY- Jordan in UT- Mojave in Southern California-Monongahela in Eastern US-Niagara Lake Erie to Lake Ontario-Oswego in New York-Otter Creek in Vermont- Red in Minnesota and North Dakota- St. Johns in FL-Shennandoah in Virginia and WV-Wilamette Oregon, USA- Wallkill New Jersey
I did not include places like the Nile, and other countries since the do not pertain to this thread, nor the ones South of the Equator.


David the map I had of the Platte had it running into a town in NE that was listed as at an elevation of 5424, that was clearly not correct. Either way the Platte is a weird river
Mike I did not know Denver was not in the mountains, live and learn.. lol

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by gmm_24

...Mike I did not know Denver was not in the mountains, live and learn.. lol

NO, I was saying that "Denver is in the mountains" is the SORT of misconception we deal with all the time; like the misconception that it snows all the time in Denver because all people see on TV is snow in the high country, especially that standard TV fare of semi-trucks jack-knifed at Eisenhower tunnel. We constantly adjust the perceptions and misconceptions that show up in our forums.

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by gmm_24

First off genius I am a SHE, and I meant the Northern Platte, the part that runs from North of Commerce City and up. I did not want it to be confused with the part of South there. Sorry if I left off the ERN part and you got your panties in a wad.
Keep your ignorant profanity to yourself.

Also I have lived here for 16 years and do know the flow of the river, where it goes, have biked on trails along it, seen lots of dead fish along the trail near Thornton and have found the water oddly warm. I never see anyone in or around it up here and it is close to my house and I pass it multiple times of day and not always in the same area, no one in or around it ever.

Most -but clearly not- all rivers runs toward sea level, the Platte runs in a different direction, away from sea level. There are about 15 major rivers in the US that do that. Yea I know that and can read. I also can google things like......
Commerce City, Platte River, Colorado, pollution any combo of words, and oddly enough I get hits..... which I can read!

I also happen to live right near the Platte in farm country and do not know of anyone around me that has water shares/rights that uses the Platte. The main canal around here is Northern Colorado Water which borders my property and flows North to South and they do not use Platte water : CBT East Slope Distribution (http://www.ncwcd.org/project_features/east_slope.asp - broken link)


Northward flowing rivers are not that common, you can google it if you like, I made you list; they have them since the water flowing away from the ocean is not a common occurence. Here I saved you time:
Bighorn in WY and MT- Deschutes in OR- Eel in N. CA- Fox in WI- Genesee in NY- Jordan in UT- Mojave in Southern California-Monongahela in Eastern US-Niagara Lake Erie to Lake Ontario-Oswego in New York-Otter Creek in Vermont- Red in Minnesota and North Dakota- St. Johns in FL-Shennandoah in Virginia and WV-Wilamette Oregon, USA- Wallkill New Jersey
I did not include places like the Nile, and other countries since the do not pertain to this thread, nor the ones South of the Equator.


David the map I had of the Platte had it running into a town in NE that was listed as at an elevation of 5424, that was clearly not correct. Either way the Platte is a weird river
Mike I did not know Denver was not in the mountains, live and learn.. lol

I am so sorry. I should lighten up because now that I know you are a girl...

How ridiculous for you to look up information on the web and fail to understand the true meaning. To say that the rivers that flow north into Great Lakes, like the Genesee, the Oswego that flows into Ontario etc. do not flow into the ocean is extremely myopic view. For the Great Lakes empty into the Atlantic OCEAN through the St. Lawrence--so river water that drain into the lakes--go to the ocean. The Niagara River is just a connection from the higher Lake Erie and the Lower elevation of Lake Ontario--that is why we have Niagara Falls--much of the water is then carried to the ocean.

I am not looking up all the rivers just to show you examples but again you are narrow minded in your thought thinking. The Nile flows north and empties into the Mediterranean which is connected to the Atlantic Ocean.

Your main point about pollution on the Upper part of the South Platte is nonsense--that is why you need to be called to account--being a girl or boy. To say you see nobody along the river does not make true that people do not visit the many parks along the Platte--which they do. Certainly, the Platte is well used for irrigation.

Livecontent

[davidv]

Originally Posted by gmm_24

Also I have lived here for 16 years and do know the flow of the river, where it goes, have biked on trails along it, seen lots of dead fish along the trail near Thornton and have found the water oddly warm. I never see anyone in or around it up here and it is close to my house and I pass it multiple times of day and not always in the same area, no one in or around it ever.

About 20 or so years ago, I worked as a trail ranger for the South Platte and Clear Creek in Adams Co. Here are some hypotheses for your experiences.

1. I went rafting on the Colorado River through Glenwood Canyon and when we got to Glenwood Springs, the water got much warmer because water from the hot springs was flowing into the river. Clear Creek might be warmer than the South Platte because in the mountains, water from Indian Hot Springs flows into the creek warming the water. I don't know if the water temperature would stay significantly warmer over 40 miles, but it is a hypothesis.

2. It could just be that water from the treatment plant is much warmer than the river (which is around 55 degrees). The water isn't dirty, it just isn't cooled to river temperature before it is discharged.

3. We rarely saw dead fish in the South Platte, the dead fish were in Clear Creek. One hypothesis that we had is that wastewater from a large industrial factory in Golden contaminated the water in some way killing the fish, but that is also just a guess.

Originally Posted by gmm_24

Most -but clearly not- all rivers runs toward sea level, the Platte runs in a different direction, away from sea level. There are about 15 major rivers in the US that do that.

All rivers run toward sea level. Remember that sea level is an altitude (0 ft) and not a single location. I think what you mean to say is that not all rivers run in a path that takes them directly to the nearest sea, gulf, or ocean. It is an important distinction.

Originally Posted by gmm_24

Northward flowing rivers are not that common, you can google it if you like, I made you list; they have them since the water flowing away from the ocean is not a common occurence. Here I saved you time:
Bighorn in WY and MT- Deschutes in OR- Eel in N. CA- Fox in WI- Genesee in NY- Jordan in UT- Mojave in Southern California-Monongahela in Eastern US-Niagara Lake Erie to Lake Ontario-Oswego in New York-Otter Creek in Vermont- Red in Minnesota and North Dakota- St. Johns in FL-Shennandoah in Virginia and WV-Wilamette Oregon, USA- Wallkill New Jersey.

The reason these particular rivers flow northward is because the altitude in the southern parts of these rivers' watersheds is higher than the altitude in the northern parts of the watersheds (remember water flows downhill).

FWIW since water flows downhill, it does not always empty into the nearest sea, ocean, or gulf. For example, the nearest ocean for the source of the Missouri River is actually the Pacific (about 600 miles away in a straight line), the next closest is the Hudson Bay (about 1,100 miles away in a straight line). However, the Missouri River flows to the Gulf of Mexico, which is 1,500 miles away (straight line).

In Montana, there is a mountain called Triple Divide Peak. The side of the mountain that precipitation falls on determines where it will go. One side's water flows to the Pacific, one side's water flows to the Gulf of Mexico, and one side's water flows to the Hudson Bay.

Originally Posted by gmm_24

David the map I had of the Platte had it running into a town in NE that was listed as at an elevation of 5424, that was clearly not correct. Either way the Platte is a weird river

That elevation is actually the highest point in Nebraska. It is near the Colorado/Wyoming/Nebraska border.