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. . does not include evaluation of planning concepts such as economics, water supply, reservoir operation, flood control criteria and generalibenefits, but accepts statements provided on theseimatters at face value." NOTE: Leps points out rathe; emphatically that his assessment does not evaluate'the cost of building a safe dam. This is a seriousOlllissionin view of the current national feeling of aChieving a balanced budget. Georqe !. Sowers was the thi!=d paneli'st who reported on the safety/seepage aspects of ~he Narrows Dam. . , Mr. Sowers indicated that uncertainties need to be resolved, namely that permeabilities of strata beneath the embankment of Narrows extending toward Bijou Creek appear to be very high. Test data available are ,very limited. Additional buoyance and pumping tests should be made to determine the permeability of these formations. NOTE: The concerns expressed by irrigators in the area regarding the high permeability of the anci~nt channel have been left unresolved. In checking the Final Environmental Statement, Section 4, Page 8, Table 4-2, a s~mmary is provided showing' the number of days that water would have been impounded in the exclusive flood control pool which would be ,above elevation 4404 feet. The Bureau in evaluating the number of days averaged the.number of years that water would be impounded above elevation 4404 feet as 14 years out of 68 years. Looking at specific year~, it can be seen, for instance, in 1942 that water woul~ have been in the flood control pool 98 days, and in 1973j water would have been in the flood control pool for 105jdays. Water would not have been drawn back down to the top of the joint use pool or elevation 4399 feet until Augu$lt 22 of a year similar to flood flows that occurred in 1973. This is significant because the information that was provided to the independent panelists dealt with flow~ in thei~outh Platte River which when impounded would rise above- e:l.evation 4428.5 feet only 7 days out of 100 years. The pos~tive cutoff trench for the dam ends at elevation 4399 feet; so there is approxi- , mately 30 feet of storage that can occur in Narrows in the flood control pool Which will be above the elevation described as the terminus of the cutoff trench. There is no expla- nation in the Special Report or the supportive data from the independent panelists to expl~in why stor~ge in the flood control pool will not have ~n adverse impact on the safety/seepage stability of Narro~s. . Each one of the independent panel members pointed out serious problems which were either not mentioned or were glossed over in the Bureau's Special Report. Each one of -18-