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Clear Creek Watershed Forum • August, 1994 Setting and scope Projects are completed and new projects started almost daily Issues/problems being Major environmental threats include metal loadings from active and inactive addressed mining sites; highway construction, maintenance and direct spills to the creek from highway accidents; urban development and runoff; hydrologic modification - 85 % of the flow is used as a drinking water supply; nutrient pollution from septic tanks and municipal point sources; gambling growth impacts; industrial discharges; leaking underground storage tanks Participants Too many to name. Large and small industries, professional organizations, cities, counties, environmental groups, Federal and State agencies and individuals have all provided support, guidance, money, and people. Most of all, they all are working together to make the waters of Clear Creek "Clear into the Future." Sources of technical input State and Federal agencies, Colorado School of Mines Brief history and present From the headwaters on the continental divide to the plains near Denver, Clear status Creek connects small mountain communities with Colorado's largest metropolitan area. Covering roughly 600 square miles, the Clear Creek watershed includes 5 counties and more than 13 communities and provides more than 165,000 people with their drinking water supply. The Clear Creek watershed is potentially one of the most valuable recreational and ecological resources along the Colorado Front Range. In 1983 the Clear Creek/Central City site was included on the Superfund National Priorities List. It is one of the largest Superfund study areas in the nation encompassing all of two counties in the upper watershed. Planned Superfund remedial actions and voluntary clean ups have played and will play an important role in the restoration of the river. Specifically, they include: Argo Tunnel treatment plant, Burleigh Tunnel and Big Five Tunnel man-made wetlands treatments, private party mine waste cleanups in Central City and Blackhawk. The most unique partnership was formed to address the McClelland Mine. Recently, through cooperative efforts of Superfund, Coors Brewing Company, the Colorado Department of Health, the Colorado Department of Transportation, Clear Creek County and the Mining Headwaters Initiative each taking, one part of the six part project, a comprehensive restoration was accomplished. By capping of mine tailings and mine waste piles, treatment of a wetlands area, boat ramp and trail installation what was once a hazardous site is now a county park. Starting from the top of the watershed, some other actions are: Emergency dial-down system to inform water users when spills have occurred in the Creek. Coors and a BIT - jointly Coors, the County, the Department of Transportation and the Forest Service have completed the Bakersville to Loveland Trail (BLD).