科罗拉多州奥罗拉市担心，奥罗拉水库流域的住宅开发可能会导致水库水质显著恶化。水质下降会干扰水库的供水和娱乐用途。除非实施最佳管理实践（BMP），否则水库流域的住宅开发预计会增加养分负荷。该市希望将水库可接受营养物总负荷的一部分分配给该流域。这种负载分配将被开发人员用作设计适当BMP的允许上限。该市和Black&Veatch进行了一项研究，以估计水库可吸收的最大营养负荷，同时符合为水库制定的数字水质目标。 营养素的重要来源包括Rampart水库的进口水、该市拥有的三口水井的排放、东樱桃溪流域水和卫生区拥有的两口水井的排放、极光流域的暴雨径流、鹅粪和大气沉积（直接降水和旱降）。该研究方法涉及使用经验富营养化模型来验证对流域水库可接受营养负荷的估计。最初的重点是磷，因为这种营养物质而不是氮似乎会限制水库中藻类的生长。根据现有流量和磷计算Rampart水库和油井的年磷负荷- 浓度数据。鹅磷负荷和大气沉降量的估算是基于其他研究的数据。流域负荷的初步估计基于之前的建模研究。对1997年的年度总磷（TP）负荷进行了估算，这似乎导致了近年来水库水质最差。对总磷负荷进行了调整，使模型预测的富营养化参数与观测到的水库水质特征具有可比性。包括22个参考文献和表格。

The City of Aurora, Colorado is concerned that residential development of the Aurora Reservoir watershed would likely result in a significant deterioration of water quality in the reservoir. The decline in water quality would interfere with the water supply and recreational uses of the reservoir. Residential development in the reservoir watershed is expected to increase nutrient loads unless best management practices (BMPs) are implemented. The City wishes to allocate to the watershed a portion of the total acceptable nutrient load to the reservoir. This load allocation would be used by developers as an allowable upper limit for designing appropriate BMPs. The City and Black & Veatch conducted a study to estimate the maximum nutrient loads the reservoir could assimilate and yet comply with numerical water quality objectives established for the reservoir. Significant sources of nutrients include imported water from Rampart Reservoir, discharge from three wells owned by the city, discharge from two wells owned by East Cherry Creek Valley Water and Sanitation District, storm water runoff from the Aurora watershed, geese feces, and atmospheric deposition (direct precipitation and dry-fall). The study approach involved use of empirical eutrophication model to validate estimates of acceptable nutrient loads to the reservoir from the watershed. The initial focus was on phosphorus because this nutrient rather than nitrogen appears to limit the growth of algae in the reservoir. Annual phosphorus loads from Rampart Reservoir and the wells were calculated on the basis of existing flow and phosphorus-concentration data. Estimates of phosphorus loads from geese and atmospheric deposition were based on data from other studies. Initial estimates of watershed loads were based on previous modeling studies. Annual total phosphorus (TP) loads were estimated for 1997, which appears to have resulted in the poorest water quality in the reservoir in recent years. TP loads were adjusted so that the eutrophication parameters predicted by the models were comparable to the observed reservoir water-quality characteristics. Includes 22 references, tables.