Colorado - Fraser Sedimentation Basin_Application

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ST ATE OF COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Region One Transportation Directors Office 18500 E. Colfax Avenue, Room 216 Aurora, CO 80011 (303) 365-7001 (303) 365-7003 FAX ~overnber19,2007 Mr. Kirk KIancke, Chairman East Grand Water Quality Board P.O. Box 159 Fraser, CO 80442 Dear Mr. Klancke, I am Writing to support your proposal for funds from the Colorado Water Conservation Board's Water Supply Reserve Account for the Fraser River Settling Pond: Grand County. This project is the culmination of efforts by many cooperating parties, including the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), to remove fine sediments from the headwaters of the Fraser River.. Funding is needed to permit ongoing maintenance of the pond at the Denver Water Board's (DWB) Fraser diversion. The Fraser River Settling Pond will create a structure to permit regular removal of the fine sediments from the pond, and so to protect downstream water quality. CDOT has already provided hundreds of staff hours, and has committed $60,000 in matching funds to make this project possible. In addition, CDOT will provide long-term, annual removal of the sediments from the pond. Some of the structures to provide access to the pond were constructed several years ago with funding by a 319 NonPoint Source grant from the Colorado Department of Health and EPA. However, while trying to remove the fine sediment, the equipment litemlly bogged down in the mud The Fraser River Settling Pond project provides the improvements to make the original project function properly. The project creates a stable foundation on the pond bottom so that maintenance equipment can work safely, improves the access ramp so that trucks can climb the ramp when fully loaded, and iniproves a bypass system so tbat the pond can be drained without impacts to downstream water quality. When this project is constructed, the CDOT is committed to long-term, annual removal of fine sediments during low-flow conditions (in the fall). Grand County has agreed to take the sediments (which are not hazardous) and dispose or reuse the material. The U.S. Forest Service is working on the clearances to permit access on CDOT and DWB easements. Construction and maintenance are timed to avoid spawning seasons as determined by the Colorado Division of Wildlife.. Numerous participants have collectively spent hundreds of hours in the past year, and have coordinated with East Grand Water Quality Board to make both construction and maintenance possible. Additional participants include: u.s. Army Corps of Engineers, NorUtwest Council of Governments, Northern Colorado Water Conservation District, Winter Park Ski Area, EPA, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). Funding is now needed to construct this project so that it functions properly. CDOT has set aside $60,000 in matching funds, but with the provision that this project begin construction FY2009 (July OS-June 09). Otherwise, the funding will be shifted to other worthy projects. Although EP A Region 8 and CDPHE support,the project, changes in how 319 funds must be spent (on impaired river segments and in alternating river basins), mean that funding from this source is unlikely . We do not want to miss this opportunity to protect water quality and fish habitat in the headwaters of the Colorado Basin. "Taking Care to Get You There" lof2