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Gross Reservoir expansion: Who gets compensation? When?

John Scarffe
Posted 2/11/23

Despite objections from local Coal Creek Canyon residents, the Gross Reservoir expansion project continues. The Reservoir is located in western Boulder County off Highway 72.

Meanwhile, the

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Gross Reservoir expansion: Who gets compensation? When?

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Despite objections from local Coal Creek Canyon residents, the Gross Reservoir expansion project continues. The Reservoir is located in western Boulder County off Highway 72.

Meanwhile, the Boulder County Gross Reservoir Community Impact Mitigation project is gathering information to help the Boulder County Commissioners determine how best to distribute the $5 million Denver Water settlement fund for residents impacted by the Gross Dam Expansion Project.

Because of ongoing construction activities at Gross Reservoir, ice fishing is not permitted during the 2022-23 winter season. Hiking and picnicking are still open at the North Shore recreation area, according to the website.

The construction for the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project started April 1, 2022. The project will raise the height of the dam by 131 feet, tripling the reservoir’s capacity from approximately 42,000 acre-feet to 119,000 acre-feet.

When complete, the reservoir will be Denver Water’s second largest and will provide essential flexibility and resiliency to customers in the face of increasing impacts from climate change. It will take five years to finish. It will create a more reliable water supply for Denver Water, which provides water to 1.5 million people in the metro area.

Doug Raitt, construction manager for Denver Water’s Gross Reservoir Expansion Project (GREP), said that tracking is on schedule for the project, which should be complete by July 2027.

They are working on roadway improvements including widening the Gross Dam Road and taking out some of the curves. The access road is pretty well developed, Raitt said.

They also are working on quarry development and removing the overburdened, weathered concrete from the top of the dam. They are constructing a crushing plant so they can make their own concrete. The crushing plant will produce the aggregate and sand for the concrete and will continue through the summer of this year.

Raitt said they will be working on concrete and grouting on foundation the rest of this year and will put in the concrete next year. It will take a year of preparation for the concrete. The raised portion of the dam will occur next year.

Much work now is below the top of the existing dam down to the reservoir, which has been lowered. They have been doing very little tree removal because they cleared trees last year. They plan on doing tree work in 2025, Raitt said.

At this point, they estimate that 200,000 trees will need to be cut down, which leaves a start time for the work in several years. They will be hauling some material and bringing in aggregate for the concrete for areas that need replacement. They will be bringing in 15,000 to 20,000 yards of concrete.

At this point all goods are being brought in via Highway 72 from Highway 93, the only egress. They will be doing work on the intersection of Highway 72 and Gross Dam Road, which should be completed in late May of this year.

By late March, 30 to 40 trucks will be coming up the road every day. Right now, the work is limited by winter weather until March.

According to their website, a specialized team from GREP will use ultra-high pressure, to blast the front of Gross Dam with water to get the dam ready for its new addition. The process is called hydrodemolition and is part of the prep work needed.

“Hydrodemolition is a process we’re using to roughen the surface of the existing concrete on the downstream side of the dam,” Doug Raitt said. “We use high-pressure water to remove about 2 to 3 inches of the concrete.”

To raise the dam, construction crews will extend the base by just over 11 feet and build 118 new concrete steps up the face. The roughened surface ensures that the existing concrete will bond with the new concrete that will be added to raise the height of the dam. Once completed, the old and new concrete will become one combined structure.

About 200,000 square feet of concrete on the surface of the dam will be roughed up by the hydrodemolition process.

Beginning Monday, January 16, 2023, Denver Water’s contractor, Kiewit-Barnard, began work to reinforce the bridge over South Boulder Creek on Gross Dam Road. This work will take approximately one week, although this timeframe is weather-dependent. Although the road is safe for traffic as it is currently being used, Kiewit-Barnard will soon begin hauling operations that require the use of large, loaded haul trucks. The reinforcement will ensure that these vehicles and other traffic using the road are able to continue safely using the bridge.

Work will be done at night to minimize disruptions for those who use Gross Dam Road and will require a full closure of the road nightly from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. During the day, flaggers will be in place to direct traffic through the work zone, which will be reduced to one lane for safety.

If you have questions about this work or general project question, please email grossreservoir@denverwater.org or call 303-628-6348. For more information about the project, visit grossreservoir.org.

Denver water is also hosting coffee shop information sessions. A project representative will be available to answer any questions residents may have about the project. This is a casual opportunity to talk directly with the team, and no formal presentation will be shared.

They have already hosted coffee shops during January at Canyon Coffee, 30509 Highway 72.

Beginning in February, the schedule will be every Friday from 8 to 11 a.m.

Along with a coalition of six environmental advocacy groups, neighbors have been concerned. Together they filed a lawsuit at U.S. District Court in Denver challenging the decision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2018 to issue a permit for the expansion of Gross Reservoir.

Denver Water’s Gross Reservoir plans call for diversion of additional water from the headwaters of the Colorado River, transport in the existing Moffat Tunnel through the Continental Divide, and release into South Boulder Creek for storage in the proposed expansion of Gross Dam and Reservoir, according to the suit.

Denver Water’s proposal to build the largest dam in Colorado history will hurt the 40 million people in six states and two counties who depend on the Colorado River. The progress of the project has been monitored closely by those living close to Gross Reservoir, who fear a range of adverse effects, both short term and long term, should it go forward.

Many of them live in Coal Creek Canyon and will lose everything they moved here for: wild pristine beautiful scenery, clean air, clean water, boating, fishing, peace and quiet. The construction associated with the expansion of the reservoir will bring explosives, big trucks and machinery, pollution, toxic coal fly ash, and will destroy more than 200,000 trees which provide critical wildlife habitat and ecosystem services like erosion prevention.

On January 30, 2023, Senator Michael Bennet released a statement following the announcement that six of the seven states in the Colorado River Basin submitted a joint proposal to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to help shape future management of the Colorado River’s limited water supply.

“The Colorado River is running out of water, and if we don’t act soon, we could lose much of the American West as we know it. Six of the seven states in the Colorado River Basin— Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, and Nevada—did exactly what we needed. We forged a common vision that will protect the Colorado River and the 40 million people, and more than 30 Tribes, who rely on it.”

Barb Halpin, as the Boulder County Gross Reservoir Community Impact Mitigation Fund Coordinator, sends out a monthly newsletter, and writes that she regularly meets with Gross Reservoir neighbors and gathers information to help the Boulder County Commissioners determine how best to distribute the $5 million Denver Water settlement fund for residents impacted by the Gross Dam Expansion Project.

Collecting data and measuring impacts on individual residences from Denver Water’s multi-year construction project takes time, but the Community Impact Fund are committed to determining the best and most fair way to distribute the settlement funds directly to Gross Reservoir residents.

For the past nine months, Boulder County has been documenting the firsthand experiences of Gross Reservoir residents and working with Pinyon Environmental, Inc., to predict and analyze short-and long-term air quality, noise, traffic, and visual impacts to the community from Denver Water’s multiyear construction project.

In the first quarter of 2023, Boulder County will work with a third-party meeting facilitator to convene and solicit input from an ad hoc community advisory group on scenarios for how the first round of funding from the Denver Water settlement account might be distributed. The advisory group will be formed with representatives from specific perspectives.

At this time, the division of money and the number of funding rounds for the full $5 million have not been decided by the county commissioners.

The amount of funding for the first round of payouts in 2023 will be determined after input and feedback from the community advisory group has been considered. The results from the Pinyon Environmental, Inc., analysis will be presented to the advisory group at a virtual meeting and the public is invited to attend the presentation and observe advisory group discussions.

Halpin has been with Boulder County for 17 years in public information and then last year switched to special projects. She sees no easy way to give everyone the same amount of money. She has been meeting with residents, including those who have a direct line of sight to the dam, have lights in the middle of the night, and truck traffic or the noise off the rocky slopes.

Up to 20 residents on Gross Dam Road received some compensation for widening the Gross Dam Road, Halpin said. She plans to send out a postcard to every homeowner in the area.

She reached out to attorneys who could not find another example of money given to the County and then to the individual residents. They plan to hold back some of the $5 million until after the tree removal plan.

For questions about the mitigation fund, go to grossreservoir@bouldercounty.org.