Public meeting Sat 01/24/2015 - Corps of Engineers Cherry Creek Dam Safety Modification Study (Denver: insurance)

[Suzatlarge]

The Denver Post has an article today about this, including the fact that the second of two public meetings will be held tomorrow - but I had to search out the details because they weren't in the article.

The full press release is here. Meeting details:

10:00 am to noon, Saturday January 24, 2015

In the cafeteria at Campus Middle School
4785 South Dayton Street
Englewood, CO 80111

It's good they're studying the dam's safety and how to improve it. I wish the public notice had been more timely and thorough.

Though I don't live in the flood zone as shown on maps I've seen, it's scary to contemplate a flood. I may show up and see what they have to say.

[denverian]

I would never buy a home along Cherry Creek Although the dam looks stable to the naked eye when I crawl by it every day on the 225. (disclaimer: I'm not an engineer, but often play one on CD)

[Suzatlarge]

So, I went to the meeting. As far as I can tell, the Dam is safe. No need to get alarmed that there's anything wrong with it. But given the huge population downstream of it, the Corps is doing a safety study to see what can/should be done to protect lives. The website for the project, which I believe is regularly updated, is here: Cherry Creek Dam Safety Modification Study

The Dam was built in 1950, in an undeveloped area. It's regularly inspected. Right now they're replacing some original structures (I think they said wells) that are part of the Dam's regular water release system and need updating after 65 years. Someone asked if the holes being dug at the Dam are for the study; no, they're for that maintenance project.

The Dam has a spillway to carry away overflow water, which has never been used in its 65 year history. Even following the biggest rain event in recorded history at the site: September 2013. Remember that one? When lots of Northern Colorado flooded and so did parts of Aurora. The water level behind the Dam was nowhere near maximum from that rainfall. A Corps rep said at the meeting it would take a rainfall event twice that size to bring water up near the top of the Dam.

The worst case scenario is dam failure. Either by water overtopping the Dam (which would in all probability damage or destroy the Dam, which is earthen construction) or damage to the Dam such as by seismic event. I'm no statistician but the likelihood of those events appears - to me - quite remote.

Public comments were interesting. My no doubt crude take on it is this. The people upstream from the Dam, including those living near Cherry Creek State Park, are up in arms against the Corps doing any modifications to the Dam which would impact the park, or their property values. Despite the Corps' statements that their mission is to protect lives, the upstream property owners are focused on their property and asking questions like would the study change flood insurance maps (no it wouldn't). I've concluded that some of those people (most of them?) don't much care about the hundreds of thousands of human lives downstream of the Dam who are at risk in a Dam failure.

Some of the public comments/questions at the meeting from the upstream people were decidedly hostile - including a mini-lecture in a rude snarl, on how our gubmint needs to be spending money on air traffic safety, homeland security, and other "life saving" things instead of this study. I got a distinct sense that these upstream people are wealthy connected conservative Republicans who are going to rely on Congressman Coffman and Senator Gardner to keep this study from resulting in any physical changes to the Dam or the park in any event. Details weren't provided, but one exchange revealed that a Dam safety study by the Corps in the past ended up going nowhere for "political" reasons.

I didn't detect any particular theme by downstream people who spoke or asked questions. A couple of them were harping on the new elementary school built by Denver Public Schools on land swapped to DPD by the City. One was an activist in the neighborhood fight to save their open space and kill the land swap, which they lost. I thought it was hypocritical of her to be huffing and puffing about the poor kiddies being drowned in this terrible school, when of course the last thing she ever wanted was the kiddies right in her back yard, so to speak, in the first place. (I know, many people thought that land swap was hinky, but the whole anti-school movement was about the sacred special open space that should be preserved. I viewed their comments at the meeting as ill-informed, inflammatory, and opportunistic. They seemed to be flailing out in search of a new whipping boy. Unsuccessfully, as the Corps is not involved in construction permitting on land it does not own.)

Obviously, those are my own opinions and impressions, and I'm not infallible. The facts are on the cited website. Have a great weekend!