Moving a Mountain to Plug a Dam Leak

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moving a mountain to plug a dam leak „ By JANET MILLER CV C -N Staff Writer The dam at North Lake, where the city of Trinidad's water supply is held, has leakage problems. During this week's council meet- ing, Trinidad Water Superintendent Jim Fernandez told councilmen about the problem, which is rapidly worsening. Fernandez explained that the earthen dam has always had seeps and leaks, but for the most part remained relatively stable. In late 1998, a state engineer inspected the dam and instructed the city of have a professional engineering firm do an evaluation. The evaluation came in to Fernandez's office last week. Coincidentally, he received a call over the weekend from officials who monitor the dam that "the flow had increased dramatically" around the drain pipe through the dam. Fernandez reported that, fortunately, the water is still clear, and not muddy. Muddy water would indicate erosion from the floor of the lake. 1. NORTH I LAKE DAM „" ry There are leakage problems at the Nortn Lake uam tarea or concern is circled). City of Trinidad map Fernandez explained that a control valve at the dam is faulty. The pipes are 35 or 36 years old, and the metal, as well as the weld are starting to fail. The mid - century repairs were an expansion of a Depression -era Works Progress Administration construction. Fernandez said the earthen dam must be stabi- lized, but even more urgently, the leaks around the outlet pipe must be dealt with. Again, there are multiple options, but all of them are expensive. A new earthen dam could be build below the current one, at an estimat- ed cost of $2.7 million. Relief wells could be punched below the dam, but in releasing more water there is dan- ger of weakening the dam walls and having the dam wash out completely. Stability berms and a new drain could be installed - for about $1.3 million. This would be a massive pro- ject, requiring some 150 cubic yards of material. Councilman Mark Ritz asked, "Do we have a mountain we can move around there ?" Fernandez hopes to arrange a meeting between city staff, the state engineer, the consulting engineer, and maybe city council to discuss the present situation in more detail. Possible options could also be discussed further. "At this point we have a lot more questions than we do answers," Fernandez said. Continued on Page 8 Bookstore represents a potential explosion in sales -tax revenues for mountain town DILLON, Colo. (AP) — Town officials have approved plans to add a Borders book store to a new shopping center already anchored by big name chains, a sign to some that the mountain community is being transformed into a suburb. The book - selling giant will occupy a 25,000 - square -foot "big box" store in the shopping cen- ter, which is home to Starbucks, Pier One, Kinko's and a Ruby Tuesday restaurant. The encroaching "suburbanization" of the f^v National chains, however, have been criticized for draining local businesses. A Starbucks opened in Keystone's stylish River Run ski vil- lage, a few steps from the beloved and locally owned Inxspot coffee shop. "We just can't tell a business that they can't come to town," said Dillon Mayor Roger Pelot. "And I think it's unfortunate that it does impact some of these businesses, but I think sometimes they can find their niche and survive." Riouer cures can beat the independents since expense of other merchants. "This business is going to impact the whole community," she told the town council Tuesday. "We ask you to consider the whole community:' A publicly -owned Ann Arbor, MI, company that grew from a single store to a conglomera- tion of more than 200 superstores selling books, music, videos and coffee orders and its sub- sidiary, Walden Books, is- the second - largest retailer of its nature, but representatives say it retains its small- store, community -based atmos-